Scott: good news that you had little difficulty with the gel coat bubbles and making the boat's bottom smooth once again. don't use silicone on your boat. the only silicone should be used to bed the cabin windows (the stock windows). in the case of the windows the silicone acts as a gasket and will not 'eat' the Lexan. silicone isn't a good adhesive and very easily comes 'unattached' to whatever you thought you stuck in place (which is why the stock M15 windows are really held in place by bolts). _after_ the centerboard pin is back in place bed the ends with 3M 4200 or Sikaflex 291. using 3M 5200 (or similar) will require 'chipping' if you ever again need to service the board/pennant. :: Dave Scobie --- On Thu, 5/16/13, Scott Larson <salarson2@comcast.net> wrote:
I found that the little bubbles on the bottom just sanded smooth without even going through the gelcoat. I think my procedure to paint the bottom will be to suspend the boat using straps to first paint the CB trunk side and bottom (And loosen the stuck CB). When that dries, I will mask that and rest the boat on its keel and keep it from tipping sideways using the chain plates and rear cleats. Then I will paint the rest of the bottom.
As for the CB bolt. Should I dig the silicone out of the bolt hole? If I do, do I need to cover it with anything? If so, would that marine fairing compound that works sort of like Bondo work? If I used that, would it be possible to chip it out at a later date (Without damaging the keel) to service the centerboard?
Scott Larson