Gas Cylinder and Water Vane

I spent over two hours trimming off the excess sealant from both sides of the windows.  I learned the hard way that it is much easier to let the surplus material harden for a day so that it can be peeled off like rubber.

Holes to be Filled Above Window and Back

Handy Epoxy Stick

Repaired Monitor Water Vane

Then I removed the old press studs that were used to fasten the spray dodger to the coaming.  Most of them were broken and frequently next to an open hole where a previous press stud had been.  I filled every hole with epoxy and tomorrow I will sand the epoxy flush with the surface of the coaming.  I've included a photo of the neat tube of epoxy that I purchased in the USA over a year ago.  The idea is to cut off what you think that you'll need, remove the paper covering, then mix it the green outer layer with the inner core thoroughly into a consistent paste.  I've used it before and it works very well - with minimal waste.  The photo shows the holes before I filled them in.  The red mark with the arrow is the starting point of the new track which will be bedded down on 3M 5200 had have many screws holding it down.

At 4 PM I walked over to Action Yachting and found that the gas cylinder that I had dropped on yesterday morning had been filled.  Better yet, the Monitor water vane that I had also dropped off yesterday for welding was back good as new.  Filling the 9 kg gas cylinder cost R250 (about $25) and the welding job was only R350, which I consider very reasonable given that all I had to do was to drop it off and pick it up at the shp at the end of the jetty, with a 1 day turnaround.

The photo shows the plate at the top of the water vane firmly in its proper position again.