Our plan this morning was to remove the plexiglass covers for the dorade vents (the big scoop looking things on the top of the boat!) and fix them up real quick with epoxy and then seal the mast all with the same caulk. For some reason I thought that fixing the vent covers would only take like an hour… It ended up taking all morning. We have 3 dorade vents in total, and 2 of them leak because they’re cracked. One is even actually broken in half. Jason got everything removed and I finally got to use our table to clean up the plastic and use some epoxy to fill the holes and cracks and prep them to be reinstalled. While I was waiting for the epoxy to set up I polished the dorade vent mounts so everything is more bling. The covers are still going to have very obvious repair spots, but at over $100 each from the factory, I’m ok with it!
On the broken one, I beveled the edges to hopefully make a stronger repair. Since I had to apply epoxy on both sides, this took a little longer than the other vent.
I also found out that the metal polish I have can also be used on plastic, so I tried to polish one of the plexiglass covers. It worked, but with a giant bead of epoxy on top I’m not sure there’s really a point. The polished mount looks really nice though! I’m hoping its shininess distracts anyone who looks at the boat too closely.
The vent covers were finally done enough to start on the mast. The mast goes through a hole in the top of the boat, so having it sealed is very important. There’s a rubber boot that covers the mounting flange and snugs up against the mast with a big hose clamp. We filled the space between the boot and the mast with sealant just in case. To top the whole thing off, the entire deck joint area is wrapped in mast tape. It better not leak now!
While I was waiting for things to dry I took the actual dorade vent pieces, sanded the inside, and put on a fresh coat of white paint!
We were on the boat until 2 in the afternoon today. After 2 gatorades each and a few hours in the sun working with the mast, we decided to call it a day. It was 93 *inside* the boat and the truck said it was 104. Gross! Tomorrow may be an inside day!