Prepping for bottom paint...

Tonight I had an extra hour or so to work on the boat, so I crawled under and continued the scraping process. Earlier in the project I had sanded some of the old bottom paint, but did not get all the way under the trailer due to mud (and laziness).

I started tonight on those areas. Instead of the sander, I just dry scraped. The old paint came off relatively easy. The red primer was still hard as a rock and embedded deep in the wood, so that will stay. The various coats of "whatever" paint came off.

I finished from the transom all the way to just in front of the trailer axles. From there forward should be easier as there is less trailer to get in the way.

Also, climbing under the boat and working on every plank allowed me to get a really good impression of the condition of all of the planks, fasteners and seams:

The good news - all of the planks are in great shape. There is no rot. Also there are no gaps in the seams between the planks. The only gap is between the keel and the garboards. It was filled with caulk, which is now gone. I will replace it.

The bad news. All of the putty covering the plank fasteners came out with the paint. That will have to be refilled. A little bit more work, but I gave up on my Memorial Day launch plans anyway.

Earlier in the week, I tested the engine connections and attached the seals on the cowl hood.