Date: Event:

Friday April 29: Lochaber has her bottom blasted, as in soda-blasted. Some 38 years of paint, barrier coat blown away by tiny grains of backing soda. Down to bottom basics. Some gel coat still left, but spots of bare fiberglass exposed. No glass damage evident anywhere and -- in a tribute to how well this boat was put together -- only one small area where evidence points to a repair being done, near on thru-hull fitting.

Saturday April 30: Dixon and New Crew Chief John McCann -- a Navy vet who has built his own sailing skiff and has owned two small sailboats -- spend 4-5 hours fairing and sanding hull, working aft from the bow. Slow going.

Wednesday May 4: More fairing and sanding. A few more days of this -- with many hands on the hull -- and boat should be ready for multi-levels of Interlux Protect 2000e, the barrier coats. They will go on in grey, then white, so it will be obvious that each coat is being covered by a following layer. Goal will be 3-4 coats. Then the new Admiral Green bottom paint!
Photos here are after work on May 4. Dark area on keel is solid lead. Light green and tan material on hull is expoxy fairing material, used to fill pitted spots that are then sanded -- S-M-O-O-T-H (AS IN ENTIRE HULL) -- before barrier coating.

Watch for update photos!