meanwhile back on C'est la Vie

I was able to put in a couple hours of work at the boat this morning.  My efforts went into prepping the head and vee berth lockers for painting.  I rely heavily on on Don Casey's, This Old Boat for guidance on boat projects.  Don suggests painting lockers as a method of perfecting painting techniques prior to moving on to more visible areas of the boat.  The first step in his outlines is to scrub the fiberglass surfaces with a TSP solution.  TSP (Trisodium Phosphate) is effective at removing mildew and greasy residues from hard surfaces.  Here is a series of before ==> during ==> after images from the locker the houses C'est la Vie's holding tank.

Before - The holding tank rests on the bare wooden shelf and is held in position by the grey bands.  I am going to attempt to fit in a larger tank.  New tank or not - I plan to remove the wood shelf and create a more finished and substantial mount.

During - The TSP is packaged as a granular powder that must be mixed with water.   I scrubbed the hull with the TSP solution, right bucket; then used a sponge to wipe the area down with fresh water, left bucket.  I continued to rinse with clean water until the fresh water remained clear after my wipe down. This took several cycles.  I also used the shop vac to suck up water that pooled in any areas.  Some water worked its way to the bilge.  At the end of my cleaning session I used a water hose to rinse the bilge.

After - still have some sanding to do, but the TSP did a great job of removing mildew and dirt.