SUP Plug: Step #8

Taking it up to a polish.
After a bout of other work, I have been able to spend some time on the plug this week.
Our goal is to make a mold of the plug before Sunday.

This will be the first of at least two molds.
To get there, we need to sand up through the grits to about 1500 grit.
Yesterday, after a little more spot filling and sanding, we achieved the uniform shape we needed.
So today we gave the plug a even sanding with 120 grit paper then 220 paper.
Tomorrow we will do 320 grit dry then 320 grit wet.
Each finer pass we will do first dry then wet.
After we get to 1500 wet, we will use buffing compound and a wool pad to bring it up to a mirror finish.

Laser Trailer overhaul

Once we had everything off the trailer, prepping for paint is straight forward.  We used an orbital sander where we could and a wire brush where we had to.
We re-primed the frame and let it thoroughly dry.
We also took apart the wheel hubs, cleaned and re packed the bearings in good grease.
Next came spraying on a glossy black enamel paint.
While this was drying we worked on cutting the new bunk boards.

The bearings were dirty but still have plenty of life.

After a thorough cleaning we re-packed the bearings with marine grease.

Snug with no play, but not too tight!

With a leaf blower we flushed out a thousand acorns. 

Poor squirrel.

We scribed the bunks to the underside of the hull when it was upside down in the shop.  Then we used the big Silver band saw for the cuts.  After a coating of clear epoxy was applied, we used wide nylon strapping for the liners.
This was epoxied in place and the overhang was pulled down with brass tacks.

The Laser sits perfectly on it bunks in this position.  Now we just need to adjust the front bumper, add new lighting and wheels.

While the Laser is off the trailer

While the Laser is getting a mani pedi we thought it was a great time to rejuvinate the trailer.
The paint was peeling and rust has crept around a bit.  The lights are shot and the wheels are dry rotted.

Last year when we got it, we gave the trailer a quick light sanding and sprayed on some primer to stop the deterioration.
Today once we got the lights and wires ripped off and the wooden bunk boards off we had a great opportunity to re-sand and prep for paint.

The rust is just on the surface so it is really an easy project.

A Laser trailer in need of help.

Rotted and rusty but the bearings are good.

The old bunk boards

The worn out electrics.

Stripped down and ready to sand.

Laser mani pedi

Now that the deck is gleaming white and the gel coat is hard, we wanted to address the hull bottom in the comfort of the shop.
We flipped it over on the horses and took care of a few items.
First was to remove the old State ID numbers.  They were peeling and not ours.
Next we filled in a few scratches in the hull with colored gel coat.  We didn't want to spend too much time on matching but the contrast is now not so glaring.
Then we got out the buffer and some compound and polished the hull.
Tomorrow we will instal the new self bailer and wax the hull.