I was determined to install the cap this weekend, but there were several things that had to happen before I could set the cap on. Things like the bow rails. They would need to be installed while I could access all of the hardware from underneath. There is just no getting to them once the cap is on. Before the bow rails could go on, that portion of the cap would have to be polished along with any other place that gets Hardware because you wouldn't be able to polish that surface efficiently once the hardware is on.
I'm always trying to think of the most efficient way to go about things so that I don't waste my precious time or effort. I even considered that it would be more difficult to buff out the blue stripe at the top of the hull once the cap is in place because the edge of the cap would be snagging the buffing wheel, so I went ahead and buffed that before the cap went on.
I had to use 1000 grit wet to remove the oxidation before going to cutting compound. I still need to use the Polishing Compound which will bring the color out even better.
The cap had 15 years of exposure before I ever got the boat and was pretty oxidized. I had to go all the way to 500 wet to cut through to good gel coat. From there I was able to step up to 1000 and then to cutting compound. I wet sanded the entire cap but only polished what I needed to on the top surfaces because it would be easier to reach the sides once it was in place on the hall. The top surfaces went all the way to Polishing Compound and it shines like a new penny.
On Sunday afternoon, I moved things out of the way and got ready to set the cap in place. The last thing I did was to drill a 4 inch hole in the floor at the very bow to allow air to drop into the ski locker area and be drawn all the way back to the engine compartment. It is something I had talked about earlier in the thread. I think if I ducted my intake air properly, it will pull some air from underneath the bow structure, down through the ski locker, and into the engine compartment keeping everything dry and at ambient temperature (at least while it's running.)
Then I sealed the edges of that hole with resin.
I then rounded up my two sons Dustin and Douglas, and together we lifted the cap in place. Dustin stayed with me like a trooper and helped me to shoehorn it all the way down onto the hull, which was not an easy fight.
