Float fairing continues #4

I was able to declare the starboard float as finished today, after three more sand and fill passes. I don't want to waste too much space on more pictures of the fairing, since they look no different that the ones before. Here's the starboard float, right after taking it down off the form frames:

I also got the first layer of fairing compound applied to the last float side (the outside side of the port float):

Originally, I had planned to suspend each float in mid-air so that I could apply each primer coat in one shot. This is still a good plan for the top coat, but I think I'll do the primer coats piece by piece, as the floats are laying on their sides. Main reason is that the primer coats will need sanding (of course) and I don't want to be raising and lowering the floats all the time.

The other thing I got done today, was to cut out the holes for my hatches on the starboard float. You might recall, that I wasn't too keen on the Ronstan inspection hatches. My wife however thought they looked much nicer than the Tempress model, so the Ronstan's are here to stay. I'll have to remember, not to do any dancing on top of my floats.

Here I'm stretching a string so I can measure and mark the hatch locations on the center line:

Here's my circle-drawing tool in action; note the use of A550 corecell foam - it gives the tool extra stiffness so that more accurate, marine-grade circles are produced, which is of critical importance for this application:

Once the hole outlines are drawn, it's just jigsaw work. Here's how the hatches look, set into place:

I did notice one issue: looks like the center bulkhead flange drooped quite a bit and did not fully glue itself to the deck:

I'm not too concerned about it, but just to be safe I'll probably swipe some sandpaper back and forth in the gap, then stuff some putty up there and clamp the flange to the deck.

Finally, here's one more shot of of the large hatch in action:

It feels good to do something boat-like again, after all this sanding. :) Tomorrow I'll dig out the exposed foam edges and fill them with putty, while the fairing putty is drying on the other float.