Durabak Removal - Interior Do-Over

I don't have any pics this week, but we are updating the formula's interior significantly after fishing her for two years. The current list of projects include the

• removal of ALL of the Durabak non-skid from the interior (floor, side walls, gunnels, etc.)
• adding a sheet of 1/2" ply to the aft flooring to stiffen it up,
• changing the hatch configuration because of failures (heavy feet have busted two hatches),
• constructing some seat boxes to mount the chairs to and to provide dry storage and radio housing and we are reworking the side wall covers, which will be integrated into the seat boxes. I will post pictures of the build out and the finished products.
  
  Not to beat a product, but I would warn anyone thinking about using this on the interior of your boat, to think long and hard. The drawbacks that we have encountered have included:
  
• adhesion - the consistency of the product's adhesion has been extremely lacking. It has adhered very well in some areas, not so well in others and has simply peeled and flaked off since it was applied. This could, could be due to surface prep., although I doubt it, and think it is more related to surface structure. Painted surfaces have been more successful, epoxy fiberglass has proven to cause failure.
• application - once you crack a can of durabak, be prepared to apply ALL of it right then. The pot life on the product requires you to apply it once it is opened.
• dirt attraction - it is hard to clean. blood stains it, rust stains it, hell leaves have stained it.
• color matching - do not count on getting the same product from the company if you order multiple batches. The first order came as expected (gray) the second order came 1 part dark gray, one part white...they instructed us to mix and match....which would be okay if we were not trying to match to previously applied top-sided material...not to mention the pot life issue I already talked about.
• removal - if you do think that you will modify an area that is a candidate for this non-skid...IF it does adhere it is a B*tch to remove...Stripease will break it down, but plan on spending some time with a wire brush extension in a grinder.

There are some positives to the product, where it has correctly adhered it is a hell of a non-skid...you will not slip on it...if you do, break out the peroxide and neosporin.

Dash Modification

Prior to the dash work...we successfully SEA trialed the 233 over July 4th Holiday. We took her out 20+ miles with no problems...no fish either but that was ok. Top speed with 3 x 200+ lbs dudes, full tank of gas and all of the fishing gear was 36 knots in the ICW.

This weekend I made the modifcations to the Instrument Panel that were required for us to re-mount the windshield in the original position (the instrument panel we made sat too high with the electronics mounted, for the angle of the windshield). We had thought about raising the dash (where the windshield will sit) but opted to bite the bullet and cut the instrument panel down, since we were not really using the upper portion for anything other than mounting the GPS and VHF to.

So, I cut the dash about 1/4 inch below the cupholder and ripped out the original piece. Then dug the grinder out of storage and started prepping the area for some cabosil bedding. Next, I reassembled the driver's side windshield to ensure that I did not make the same mistake again and the angles worked. So I cut out a piece of luon to fit, mixed up some epoxy + cab, cut some fabric and put it in...The next day and grinded on that setup, and then attached some 1/4 round to the end to smooth it out and then did the cab, fabric & glass thing again. I actually think this will turn out better, although it sucks to grind off top coat...but that was easy enough to put on. Here is the single pic I took w/ my phone.