It must get worse before it gets better

Step 2(a).

Step 2(a) is to sand the bad spots and expose fiberglass damage hidden by gelcoat. You have to make it a game and "follow the cracks". This can be a nauseating process. You'll sand and find more damage. You'll sand some more, and you'll find more damage. It goes on and on, testing every millimeter of determination. That 99th drop of sweat could be your last if you don't have the guts, the thick skin, to pull this off. But just when you're ready to give up, just when you push that extra little bit, you find good fiberglass. If it weren't for the mask you should be wearing, you'd kiss that good fiberglass, pet it, rock it, cuddle it, and praise its very existence.

After sanding a while, with the hull rocking back and forth on a long table, I decided I'd better get proper steady support. For about $20, and an afternoon, I made a pair of saw horses:







As you can see (ignore the damage to the bow for now), I've cut the tops of the saw horses to match the shape of the hull. To do this, lay the wood across the hull in the position it would be if in a saw horse. Take a scrap piece of wood, drill a hole the same size as a trusty pen/pencil, and put it through the hole. As you drag the piece of wood, the pen will draw the shape of the hull on the board. Then just follow the line with a jig saw. I saw this tip online and am unable to find it again to give proper credit to the genius idea.
I've got separate pieces for when I need to flip the boat to work on the deck. Terry cloth gives the hull a nice cushy surface which won't scratch. After all, who wants more scratches to repair? Or how about scratches in a newly restored finish?

Now you're allowed to look at the bow. You can see damage to the bow and damage where the handle used to be. Below are more pictures of damage in good light, with a good camera, and with the gelcoat removed. I left out redundant damage. Just know there are several examples of each on this hull.



Plenty of this:





Some of this:




More than enough of this:




How about a take home party bag of damage?






Worth grumbling over:


But the good news is that it's all fixable. Now with proper safety apparel in a plastic bag sitting next to my feet, I'll head on to Step 2(b) which is to cut even larger holes and bevel them in preparation for fresh new fiberglass. Then I can move on to Step 3-plugging those holes all the while remembering this famous quote:

"Rome was not built in a day" -John Heywood

Cheers!

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