Sail Life - Fairing and fixing holes - DIY sailboat restoration 

I thought I would share a cute story. I was watching this video in the living room and my littlest one said “oh Mommy why are you always watching that sanding show?” I laughed so hard. Glorious, glorious sanding!

Your caution in the cockpit locker is well founded. My father's boat had a capped-off plastic thru hull (left by a previous owner) just above the waterline in the starboard cockpit locker. As you can imagine, one day it resulted in a near sinking adventure.

The answer to the edge of the cabin top?......a 1" radius, hides all the variance. The only sharp edge should be on your filleting knife!I know the feeling of lifting the boat. I did our 15 ton yacht with one jack. I followed up with lots of wedges all around the boat. jack jack jack, tap tap tap, jack jack jack, tap tap tap. 300mm in total lift, to allow room for the transporter to fit under the keel.A good time to be in the shop alone too!Great video as always Mad.

To sand that cabin top radius try making your own sanding block out of a piece of wood. Take a piece of 4"x4" wood about 6 " long and cut the cabin top angle into it. Make it about 5-10 degrees farther open than the actual angle. You want the angle to be larger so you can work on one side of the problem at a time by rocking the block. Once the block is cut run a bead of thickened epoxy in the sharp corner to match the radius of the cabin top. Sand it smooth and then stick self adhering Velcro to the block. If the velcro does not stick well use a staple gun to hold it down. Cut your long board paper to the size you need and go at it. I have a simple radius block I made that is currently my channel icon.

Theres a rubber broad knife used in drywall that should spread the fairing compound very well. It conforms to inside corners, like where the cabin top meets the deck. A bonus is it’s easy to clean. Just bend it and twist it to break the epoxy off.

Your videos are wonderful, I don't even sail or live near an ocean. You are an inspiration for doing things you love to the fullest extent. BUT... I've been missing Jokull in your videos!!! I always looked forward to the old outro of you and Jokull sitting there awkwardly. It was sincerely great! How is Jokull doing???

The hull is gorgeous. You and the friends did a lot of great work to get to this done.

Watching your videos is like watching bob Ross, mesmerizing

For your outside radius sand vertically so that your sander follows the angle you are already happy with and then from the top, with the sander following the roof line on the long axis will get the angles perfect. I kept telling you this while watching the video but you couldn't hear me. lol. Keep up the good work!

Mads, you may want to visit an auto body shop with your questions. Bonds is very similar to faring compound, they do complex curves and flat surfaces, sharp inner and outer edges...and everything is painted super shiny.

Try dragging the front end of a 4" diameter semi-ridgid foam roll (pool noodle) throught the fairing. Cut the roll down to a manageable size and stay tight to the cabin wall and deck to form the inside curve...good work on the restoration.

For the deck to cabin inside join it depends on if it is a sharp corner or a rounded corner you want. For sharp use your drywall taping knife and finish say, port and starboard cabin sides and front deck, then after sanding them do side decks and front cabin. The trick is to never try to do both adjoining surfaces at the same time. For rounded just use a rounded end of a stir stick or similar tool to lay a fillet of compound, then sandpaper pinched around a dowel of correct size. For the cabin top drill a hole the size you want for a radius in the center of a large drywall taping knife and then cut to the hole making the side/top or the front/top angles. Taping knives are inexpensive and are good steel and already have a handle attached. This will give you an easy to use tool for spreading compound.

I posted application tips earlier. But for sanding we used to make custom sanding blocks from spray foam and fiberglass. You can also carve them from foam and then lay some glass on the foam to help it hold up to sanding. Another thing we did was lay the filler on thick and then use a body file that resembles a big cheese grater to shape the filler when its about halfway cured.

For your outside corners along the cabin top, take a piece of plastic and throw a hole in it the appropriate size for the around portion. Then using your two sticks find the angles that you want and make the smooth cut into that so that the sides are tangent to the circle. That's you formed a scraper with a consistent round portion that will fit cabin

Take the angle from the shipwright's contraption then cut a piece of stiff thick plastic with the radius you desire. Use as a template and make several. Then use to scrap the shape in just as you originally used the shipwright's contraption.

I've gone for the trudesign seacocks too. If you just want a hosetail then cut down the thru hull fitting so the collar of the hosetail ends up flush with the hull. You could even do away with the nut using a female hosetail fitting as the nuts built in. You only need the load bearing collars if theirs a chance someone might stand on it or something heavy hitting it. Hidden away cockpit drains won't have people standing on them.

To fix the inside corner between the deck and cabin wall, just lay down a fillet of thickend epoxy, shape it with a rounded corner piece and hand sand it with sandpaper around a similar rounded corner piece (piece of a broomestick?). Always try to avoid sharpe corners, it's so much easier to clean later on.

Pick the size of radius you want for the concave curve (1/4", 13mm, whatever) , and get a wooden dowel that size. Cut the dowel down to hand size and wrap the sanding paper around the dowel. This will provide a consistent size and shape.

Get sheet sandpaper and a large sponge wrap the sandpaper and use it to sand those radius's. The sponge will allow the paper to conform to what you are seeking. The harder you press the more of the compound you will remove and the reverse. You can also alternate the grit to remove more or less. I go to the dollar store and buy sponges with the green scotch brite attached to one side for the finer work.

for fairing use, an aluminum sheet cut out with the profile you want then drag it along with enough filler, and like plaster, work don't go back over it twice while wet. it makes a mess. BTW love your adventure in this boat project

I can’t wait until you come out with the 8 hr sanding video. 8 glorious hrs of sanding in a video and it could be be put to meditation or calming music or just the sanding scrap scrap vacuum sound. My curiosity had me putting a few of your sanding clips together and just putting the video in a loop. I tried music and also just looping the best sanding and vacuuming sound clips. Oh it was just glorious!!! My Pet cat “Scratch” looked at me and around like hey something isn’t right! Sounds like someone scratching at the litter box. Hey I see 8 hrs of meditation, 8 hrs of meowing, 8 hrs of barking, 8 hrs of purring, 8 hrs of laughter, 8 hrs of ocean sounds, chanting, rain, thunder, birds ,8 hrs of farting you name it! BUT NO ONE HAS A 8 hrs OF SANDING ON VIDEO! I only saw one video of sanding that was 1hr and 11 minutes. You could be a first to have this video! Every week it’s a joy to watch all the work you put in your videos ! Always great content and useful and entertaining.

Since you have that "spiffy "vaccume pump you can make a vacuum chamber to set the fairing compound cups in........bubbles will vanish and it is cool to watch how much comes out.

Totally agree with upside down glassing Mads, definitely dry cloth application much easier and more effective. Cheers

Mads shaming those 80s workmen... then again working with an end as the goal as opposed to max profit is probably most of the difference. Just looking amazing

Your videos are really really well produced. I runew in to see what you weekend was like. Very nice. Thanks.

Mads if your cabin top is sanded flat and the front of your cabin is sanded flat, then you will end up with a straight line, now sand that edge slowly with a sanding block along its length until you have the radius you are happy with. As for the bottom edge of the cabin, similar procedure, sand the deck flat, sand the front of the cabin flat and then mask off and leave only the inner corner exposed. now apply your filler, and trowel off with something that has a radius that you like (spoon, plastic conduit, stirring stick). When it comes to sanding, use a sanding block that is round, (again a piece of plastic conduit works) leave your masking tape there or even replace with a new piece of tape as this will act as a guide and show you where not to sand. Use a guide coat so you can see where you are sanding and do it slowly.

Mads, YOU THE MAN!

Another advantage is you will be able to exactly repear the identical round-over anglt wherever to need to.

I think sand the two respective surfaces nice and flat ignoring the point where they join. This will leave you a nice sharp edge which you can then easily round using a piece of formed sand paper. To me this method makes better sense than trying to form the curve while you are sanding the flats. Anyhow its looking dare I say it excitingly darn spiffy Mads.

Try pieces of Venetian blind slats mounted to your jointed stir sticks, their curved cross section should give you a smooth trowel effect on the filler compound

Useful progress there Mads👍😀⛵️

I don't have a boat, don't go sailing.... but, I love watching you make Athena a beautiful boat again and have been watching since you got her, its so relaxing to watch such a great bloke doing a fantastic proper job. Your new girlfriend is lovely too

Take a grinder or dremmel grinding/sanding drum to a cheap broadknife and make a rounded-over ‘V’ notch in the center of the knife edge. Then simply spread the fairing compound on with, well, anything, the drag that V notched knife along in one smooth pass and you’ll get a perfect shape to the joint.

The copper coat looks beautiful! Nice job!

Looking very very nice!

I would recommend using a piece of wood with the ideal radius ground into it. About 6" long and 2" wide. glue sand paper into it and use it to generally transfer the radius to the edge. It will take some skill.

Two flat pieces one on top and one on face that are as thick as the faring you wish to apply . Taped to both surfaces Fill the space between and use a drywall corner trowel to shape flatten the material. Of course some” glorious , glorious sanding” ( copyright) will be required. There is thin vinyl that could be used for top and face with radius cuts to help make the turns across the cabin top. Hope this heads you in the right direction.

You could look at making or buying a "Bullnose Outside Corner Tool".. And make a sanding block to the edge shape you want.

Mads to create your edges on your cabin top to the best of your ability. Use a "die". Take a piece of wood to create a sanding block in which you see fit for the radius. Use sand paper in the newly created sanding block. Sand length ways on the area that you wish to shape. As always make sure that the face of the area that you are sanding is completely flush and sanded. Try not to over sand your edge. Put a guide coat down on the flat surface as to not over sand and create another low spot on the face of the cabin top and sides. I hope this helps. If you have any further questions feel free to reach out.

Mads, for the inside corner I would try the same trick as they are doing when applying silicone to the bathtub. Two masking tapes and wet plastic spoon.

Thank you for another excellent video Mads. I looking forward to the answer on those corners :)

What about putting bigger portals in the front? It would look better in my opinion. Awesome workmanship and discipline to do it right the first time.

Mads, you are such a perfectionist! I don't think you will EVER get that cabintop faired out to your own high standard. I don't see why you can't eyeball the curvature. I honestly think you would do a fantastic job of doing it manually.

on the inside corners you can use a round wooden dowel to make your radius on the outside ones cut the angle you want into a bondo trowel and use it to apply your faring compound it should make the edges alot smoother than the wooden sticks

u should have alot more subs ? people need to find ur great channel.- ur 1 of the best

The mixing sticks idea will work if you don’t use the faring compound so thick that it sticks to the sticks. You can use plexiglass instead of mixing sticks so the compound doesn’t stick to it as much or 2 stiff credit cards with a bolt and nut holding it together. Make compound as thin as you can then drag it along the edges. Thinner is better on the final precision faring . Maybe you can use this. Love the videos ⛵️👍👍

I have been watching you since you got started on this project and have learned so much from you that I feel I need to send you something also those through holes look absolutely gorgeous against I copper coat.

Love the videos, can’t wait to see this in the water..

Hello from Oklahoma USA something you may look into is your metal scrapers see if you can get one cut to the shape you need and scrape before sanding love the show HI AVA !!!!

Corners: Maybe build a custom sanding board for each angle+radius you wish to produce. New torture devices aplenty. Build up in order to sand back down to the desired shape?

Thanks, you answered my belated question about under the stands.

Thanks, Mads :)

You might be able to use the back side of a drywall mud inside corner tool to make a better application of faring compound.

I have enjoyed the entire series. Thank you. To address your concerns about gloss coat imperfections, consider using a spray sanding indicator like auto painters use. Best regards.

Cut a section of pvc into thirds on its longitudinal axis. Then cut to a 3” length. Line ‘inside’ of pipe with stickey back sand paper - say 80 to 120 grit. Choose diameter size of pvc that best matches desired roundness of the cornered edge.

The bottom of the keel is huge compared to what i was picturing in my mind. I was imagining more pointy and less flat. Sanding our the exact radius you are looking for has got to be a hand and eye skill. Car developers do it all the time to get the exact radius. Not to worry, it will look fine once its covered with paint. Great Video as usual. The brass thru hull layup was a thing of beauty.

Use a sliding bevel to get your angles might help you in further projects

Several years ago I bought a Porter-Cable profile sander, it included several attachments for sanding convex and concave surfaces.

Inside curves I use sandpaper wrapped around an appropriate sized wood Dowell.

It's too bad you lose access to that shed each Fall. I imagine it gets plenty cold and wet in Denmark in the Winter. I was there a lifetime ago in the Summer. Really enjoyed the visit. Beautiful country.

Yes I'd love to see how you brace the boat when lowering the supports.

Mads, Thank you so much for the tip with the fibre glass, I been trying to rebuild my seat for a while now and the fibre glass keeps falling off, now I know why

Hi Mars Hindsight is 20/20 too late for this technique now but you might use it on another part of the boat. Before you remove the old components use Somé mold release wax and make female or male patterns of the contours. You can then use the pattern to produce the corners needed and glass them into place. Good luck. Excellent videos.

Great video.

Have to respect the attention to detail and thought process in hardware selection. Nothing like standing back and looking at a completed job thinking I did that.

Regarding the cabin top corners, I don't have a good solution for the outside curve but possibly do for the inside curve. You could use a length of flexible extension spring wrapped in sandpaper. It would flex in one plane but retain its OD.

You could try wrapping a dowel with sandpaper for the inside radius. As for the top radius a foam sanding block may work but this is just a guess.

Mark a line with a pencil about 5 -10mm from the intersecting faces. Then make sure you don't sand outside of those to start. Go slow and start with a 45 bevel. Then soften those bevels and finish easing. You can always sand more and make the bevel bigger. You kind of have to start over if you go to far.

As an alternative to the stir sticks ive used a piece cut from a plastic bucket and cut to the angle and radius desired as a knife to make the edge. Cut a hunk of wood or foam to the same shape as a sanding block.

Hi Mads. For the radius, you can laminate a sheet of fiberglass (thickness depending on how flexible you want) then cut it with the application angle and radius. Once that's done, you can just slab fairing compound or thickened epoxy and just swipe the mold/fiberglass fillet you've prepared over it. By the way, the coppercoat looks like a million dollars. Amazingly fantastic! Congratulations on that. Last but certainly not least, at 12:43 , it just looks like... Well, I need to grow up I guess! LOL

You can buy a "radiusmåler" and use it as a guide when sanding the outside radii... and sand with a hard block and eyeball it. You will be surprised how well you can do it like that. Not everything can be done with a ruler. Sometimes you just need to find your inner artisan ;-)

hi Mads, in the middle ages whitches and evil spirits where believed to live in corners... at least on boats i agree :) here the trick: on the top corner either "simply" hand sand with a sanding block or start with a bevel that you round up afterwards. i strongly recommend to sand a radius to that edge to make it more resitant to wear&tear. its also easyer to get it good looking with a bigger radius. how big you can go depends on the fiberglass underneath. for the corner between the cabin sides/front and the deck i make myself an spatula with the radius i want. then mark a line on deck and cabinside where the radius meets the surface . masking tape along those lines leaves a strip on each side of the corner. fairing compound in the bag an squirt a line of it into the corner. fair ovef with radius spatula. the spatula must be drawn tightly on the deck and cabinside. if done corectly you now have a radius that ends on the edges of the masking tape. all ecess compound is on the tape and can be removed bevore the compound dries. sanding...well that is done by hand alone i am afraid :) i realise this description is a bit longish, hard to do witout some sketches. please let md know if you need some more graphic input, i'll email you some drawings. greeting from hamburg martin p.s. if all fails you can always paint everything i anti-scid...:)

👍 I was thinking along the lines of the shipwright but out of sheet metal pre cut to the radius’s you need. Think of a boomerang with the inside for the top of the port light area and the outside edge for the for the bottom area of the port lights. Since you said noodles aren’t available how about sand in a large baggie inside of a sock.

Well Mads, you had me holding my breath when you jacked up the boat. Glad we didn't get to see you squashed flat!

We used professional painting spatula from the supply shop for art painters; (boesner.com for example) You get those in a vast variety of forms, and their edges don't have the wooden edge problem Your adjustable fairing angle has.

Hi Mads, I would suggest that you have to modify your angle rouler (advice from the shipwright) close to the hinge by adding the radius you want to achive!

For sanding edges we used to use a dowel wrapped in sand paper to get concave curve and hand sanded the convex curves

look up corner trowel used for drywall it should help you with your corners.

Hey Mads, great videos as always. As for the question on the handing of both the inside and outside radius....old plaster workers used to make their own forms from tin cut to the shape needed. They were making solid plaster crown molding with their setup. But I can see it being as simple a drilling a hole the diameter of the radius then cutting the angles to match the side. Sorry if this is sounding crappy but I could probably draw it better. Perhaps one of the other members of the hive can follow my thoughts and explain better.

thanks

I recently created a nearly perfect edge with my fingers and some sandpaper :) just slide two fingers with the edge in between and try to make even and long movements.

Re: Rounded Edge Bevel at cabin top -- From a "sculpting" perspective, your "fill and shape" method seems the best technique. You're filling the space defined by the slope of the side and the slope of the top, parallel to those surfaces, then you bevel that sharp-edged "fill" by sanding along the edge until it's rounded to your specification. The boatwright's "double parallel" thingie does exactly the same thing, but seems to "jaggy-up" the sharp edge. ..in other words, I prefer your method. :) Aloha dude! 🤙

Hey Mads, you could take a piece of wood and make it into a sanding block with the contour you want for the angle. You don't have to be exact because once it is close put a piece of sandpaper upside down on a piece of the curve that you want to copy and run the sanding block over it until it cuts the contour into your block. Fit a new piece of sandpaper to the block and sand the contour into your cabin top.

Instead of the stick,you can cut custom squeegees out of plastic. I use cheap flexible cutting boards. But I'm sure you can find a comparable source of flexible plastic to cut custom shapes from.

Mads, Great video series. I have not commented before even though I have watched all your videos, but as a long time woodworker and stair builder, I can tell you that to get a uniform sanding on a curved and radiused surface you will need to make a sanding block that will conform to the surface. You will probably need several. I have used styrofoam blocks and glued up dense foam blocks of a thickness that will conform to the larger curves, but still be thick enough to not break down easily. To put the inside and outside radiuses in the block use coarse cut (40 to 60 grit self stick sand paper) applied to a portion of the radius on the boat and sand the foam block to match. If the radius changes significantly, you may need to make more than one block for each area. You then attach sticky back paper of the appropriate grit to the radius area of the foam block and sand away. After sanding to shape you then use a 3m (or equivalent) sanding sponge to fair from one area to another.

For that inside radius between the sides of the cabin top and the deck, the only thing for it is a sanding form. Make a form with the radius you want and use it to sand the fairing compound into the shape you want.

there is a rubber tool drywall finishers use to do the inside angle like the top to deck

You could try some molding or cut pvc on a band saw to get the edges. But idk how feathering in those would look or if the material you’re use will even bond with pvc

Take a rubber squeege and cut the radius in it then that edge you are attempting to make will be smoother. You can use a plastic spreader also to make the radius you seek.

At the cabin top to deck joint (inside curve), there are frequently stress cracks that develop. You may want to consider adding some additional glass to that area to prevent cracking, prior to fairing. Looking pretty good so far.

check out some plaster tools for applying the fairing compound they make differant angled ones for plastering corners

perhaps handsanding with fine sandpaper and make a mall template so you can check it . it wil consume some hours i supose but it is your favorite hobby :D

I was going to add, but too late, you did the job. But 5200 quick cure works great on such applications. Though designed for below the water line, it makes a great filler for areas just above with your through hulls... anyway.. boat is looking great.

Both cabin top & cabin front & sides must be straight & fair first, before you can even think about the radius. The middle of the original radii was probably fair. Cabin top too! Don’t build up the radius, sand the cabin front down to meet the original radius evenly. Or... you now have a sharp edge, is it fair? Bisect the angle, again & again, like rounding a square wooden mast. All by hand & eye, using small sanding block.True fairing boards are 4 feet long, or longer!! Make your own!! Maybe 3 feet long? Patience... epoxy primer, final fairing, prime, fair. Original plug for your deck mold took a very long time to get right. Cabin sides to deck is just a fillet. Use a round spoon, sand with anything that works for you. The flat sides must be fair first!

Mads for your inside and outside corners look to the auto body industry for shaped sanding pads.

For sanding those corners, use medium density foam like the kind used in furniture. You can bend that stuff around the corner and it will conform to whatever curve is there and will continually adjust as the curve changes. Great for the outside corner and works for the inside corner, too. Cut the foam to whatever thickness that will provide the flexibility you need. You may have more problem with your sanding medium conforming to the curve.

In my opinion working from experience I would work on one face at a time and let the compound protrude out higher or further than the other angle sand it back to the required plane and then fill the void on the other face this will leave a sharp angle to be sanded back to the required radius great job by the way.

Jeg er ikke klar over om det nogensinde er blevet forslået, men hvis du på noget tidspunkt vil udgive alle dine videoer på dvd med et index på alle de emner du på så fantastisk vis har vist os gennem årene, så er jeg "uanset pris" en sikker køber. Det er et fantastisk bibliotek på reparationer og løsninger på mange problemer der opstår som båd ejer.....En klar fan af dine anstrengelser med opgaverne og super visuelle videoer.....Mvh Jens J Fomsgaard

Mads, I have never commented on your channel which I have enjoyed greatly thru the years. I am commenting on a past video where you removed some smelly foam from the keel. In this video you removed the barrier layer of the integral keel. To be clear an integral keel sailboat, such as yours has a keel that is part of the molded hull and not a bolt on keel which is popular on production boat due to the fact it supports a number of different depth and performance configurations. Having at least one barrier layer is a requirement of ABYS for integral keel fiberglass sailboats and some boats have two. Our Caliber 40 LRC has two and it is great comfort to have when sailing the shallow waters of the Caribbean. The barrier layer is in the event the keel strikes a hard object and is holed. While the water can get into the keel spaces it cannot flood the boat until the barrier is breached. A strike or grounding hard enough to hole the keel skin could damage a poorly made barrier so I recommend your do a good job on the installation. You do very good work so I am not concerned with the quality of your installations. I cannot say I am very familiar with your boat so I cannot layout a design however I will make a few suggestions. 1. I would not leave the space simple empty and filled with air or a dry gas. Due to temperature changes the differential pressure between the outside water and the interior of the keel body could lead to failures. 2. You could replace it with closed cell foam or if your boat is not weight sensitive additional ballast material. Either way something that takes up volume. I have even heard of these things filled with oil though I do not recommend that. The only reason I am commenting is I have not heard you return to this subject lately and don't know if you are planning actions for this area. It certainly does not have to be address while you are in the shed where other project schedules are driving your actions at present. I have spent many years building ships and enjoy sea going vessel technology. We have a blog SV Kooky Dance if you want to make sure I am not a kook. Happy Regards Capt. Scott Buckley SV Kooky Dance

Hi for the outside curve, use a straight and level fairing board that you can control very well with one hand (might not be one of your metal ones). Hold the board parallel to the curve and flush with one surface. Then move forward with the curve and rotate the board around the curve until you become flush with the other surface. The trick is to keep the rotation and movement forward constant as you move along the curve. A shipwright taught me this before I did my boat. Sounds complicated but it has less error than you might think. Message me if you want a better description. Keep up the good work!