So when I did get a place on the dinghy dock, I had to quickly fabricate some kind of a hatch cover for the spinnaker chute. We didn't do all this work to collect water in the retrieval sock and thus into the bottom of the boat.
Unfortunately, I didn't keep any of the templates from the original installation. So I had to start by making a plug out of plywood.
Because I was in a hurry--and because I will make a better cover next fall -- I skipped the mold step, and made the hatch straight from the plug. I sanded the heck out of the edges then put on four coats of polyurethane. After that the plug was waxed--four coats. Then I laid up four layers of glass cloth.
It came off the plug pretty easily. Then the hatch was trimmed away from all the waste and primed.
Somewhere between primer and finish coats I must have contaminated the surface. There were all kinds of problems with allegation. So, I sanded back to primer and started over. New primer applied with a brush, and three coats of sprayed on Brightside. (My usual mixture of thinners--it sprays nicely.)
The finished product--like I said, better job this fall.
In the meantime a new hinge is being fabricated for the mast step. I could be happier if rake were adjustable. Yes, I will concede, this is getting a bit ridiculous--even for an old man's sailboat.
