Preparation starts!

Gel Peel

Now I can take a couple of hours off to pick all the splinters out of my hands and stand up for a change.  I'm sub contracting a process called GEL PEEL that is available in my area.  The process is really nothing more than planing the surface just deep enough to remove the gel coat, but it takes some special equipment to do.  Sure beats having to grind it off myself!

After the gel coat is peeled, The remaining surface is sanded and faired so that any dips and gouges are not deeper than 1/32".  A 2" margin is left around the perimeter which will be ground back enough to allow the teak to just overlap so that the water races won't have to be refinished. Before fairing, I put down two sealer coats of straight epoxy, which is lightly, but completely, sanded after curing. The fairing mix used is epoxy thickened with cabosil and milled fiber, mixed to the consistency of mayonnaise, and applied with a large dry wall knife.  After all fairing has been done and the deck has been sanded with a dual action sander, (commonly known as just D/A).

Now I'm ready to do some basic layout......