Non-slip Mats, Ballast, Epoxy Problems

  Non-slip mats are installed in the anchor well . . .

 on the cabin deck . . .

and in the cockpit footwell.  In this shot you can also see that I have painted inside the small storage "lockers."  Later I added thick rubber shelf liners inside the lockers to protect them.  That blue thing is electrical conduit I ran inside the seat backs.  It continues inside the cabin and into the front compartment.  Looks kind of ugly but for me function trumps form in this instance.

I have also added the lead ballast to the bilge compartments on each side of the centerboard trunk.

Before dropping in the ballast I installed thick rubber mats to protect the hull.  I forgot to take pictures of the mats beforehand, but you can see them in the compartments aft of the ballast compartments.  I decided to put the mats in those compartments in case I need to add more ballast.

I've been having considerable problems with the epoxy curing "lumpy" on the mahogany strips (toe rails, companionway slides, etc).

Every time I tried to sand these areas smooth (very carefully with 220 grit) I always ended up sanding through to bare wood in spots.  So I had to re-apply the epoxy, wait for it to cure and sand again.  Every time I again had bare wood exposed.  This was getting to be a vicious cycle and I felt I would never finish the boat.  This is the biggest problem I have ever had with MAS epoxy.  It's possible there is still enough sap in the mahogany to be causing this.

So I got on the builders' forum to ask for any suggestions or perhaps recommendations of a different brand of epoxy.   The consensus was that there are contaminants on the wood in spite of all my precautions.  So today I sanded a small section bare, thoroughly cleaned it with alcohol, and tried again.  Here is the result:

There may be a slight improvement, but I have no doubt my attempts to sand off the lumps will result in more spots sanded down to bare wood.  So my decision is to sand all the mahogany strips down smooth--mostly to bare wood, and then varnish them.  I will probably have to re-varnish those areas every year or two, but that won't be too bad.  I plan to leave the inner sides of the toe rails fairly rough so I don't sand through because water will collect there and could do more damage.