October 2018

Ah, it's October and our high temperatures have finally dipped below 90 F (32 C).  Actually, the high today was a nice 75 F (24 C).  This is nice weather to work outside.

The glass on the transom sanded down very nicely especially around the edges where I was most worried.

I think it looks pretty good.  I'm ready to roll on a few more layers of epoxy on this part.

Now that I am no longer using the large angle grinder, I've rigged a vacuum system for the new belt sander.  This was a major increase in my comfort.  No more cover-alls, no more dusk mask and no more mess in the shop.  I was very pleased with the dust collection.  Very little dust is left behind and none gets into the air and on me.


I'm planning a big weekend next week to work on the boat.  I'd like to get the hull in shape to roll on the last layers of epoxy.  I have a few things planned to that end:

1) Finish rough sanding
               update:  Made good progress but not finished.
2) Fill dips, crevices and ripples and re-sand
               update:  Made good progress but not finished.
3) Add three more layers of glass around the bow for extra protection and sand/fill smooth
               update:  Only added two  more layers.  I have not filled and smoothed it yet.
4) Wash the hull down for the final coats of epoxy.
               update:  Nope, not there yet.

My goal is to minimize any sanding after I roll on the final layers of epoxy.  I know that there will be a bit of smoothing but I really don't want to have to perform any deep sanding or re-filling.  Wish me luck.

The dark patches are places that needed filling.  They were either  low places, places where the glass rippled a bit, or small voids.  You can see the Belt sander on the right with the vacuum hose going all the way over to the vacuum on the walk board on the left.  The vacuum is clamped to the walk board to keep it in its place.

This area was overworked when we applied the epoxy.  When you apply too much pressure or are too vigorous with the laminate roller, the glass obtains a ripple.  Not good, but fixed by lightly sanding and a bit of filling with thickened epoxy.

Sanding these fill areas was a lot of work and at one point I got the cord stuck in the belt sander.  See the  Tool Box for more information on that.

I wanted to reinforce the bow and increase the radius of the bow edge to increase dispersal of any impact the bow might encounter.  I added two layers of woven cloth tape.  One 6 inches (15.3 cm) wide and over that a 10 inch (25 cm) wide strip.  I used a small roller to apply epoxy along the bow where I wanted to place the glass.  I let it get a little tacky and then rolled on the strips of fiberglass.  The sticky surface helped hold the glass around the relatively narrow radius of the bow.  

Two layers of fiberglass 'tape' along the bow for a bit of extra protection and to increase the radius of the bow edge.  

I've added a few layers of mat glass with woven glass over the top in order to round out this rather flat area right before the fin keel.  It still has a chine but it looks a bit better.  I'm a bit puzzled why the keel (the flat part) extended so far forward.  

A straight on view.  

I like it when my pan released the cured epoxy clean and I can reuse it.

A light sand on the glass tape to remove the seam along the edge.  

I'll need to go over this lightly with a small orbital sander to prep for filling otherwise the epoxy won't have anything to adhere to.  This glass cuts through very easily (unlike the rest of the hull).  I found this out the hard way and I've already had to reapply a patch.

Okay, so I mentioned in the above image that I had to apply a patch where I sanded through the fiberglass cloth.   I have a fairly powerful orbital sander that I had originally bought for auto body work.  That was the sander I was using when I sanded through my glass.  I tried to use it again this morning to take down an area near the stern that I filled and was surprised at how aggressive it was then I realized that the sanding head was just spinning like a grinder and there was no orbital motion. No wonder I ripped through the glass tape on the bow.  I took the sanding head off and removed the bearing that lets the head free rotate and that bearing was frozen solid (Tool Box).  I've ordered a new bearing at around $15 and should have it by the end of next week.  

After a washing with soap and water and a little light sanding I mixed up some epoxy thickened with fiber dust collected from previous sanding efforts.  This makes a great, free, thickener that goes on very smooth and is hard as rock.  It won't sand as easily as most other thickeners but I can use the belt sander to get it in shape. I'll save the expensive thickener for the final faring.