I've combined that last two months of the year into one short page. Basically October was stretched into November anyway. The major elements from October are accomplished:
1) Finish rough sanding
update: Done
2) Fill dips, crevices and ripples and re-sand
update: Two or three minor issues that will take 15 minutes.
3) Add three more layers of glass around the bow for extra protection and sand/fill smooth
update: Only added two more layers. But this is finished except some minor sanding
4) Wash the hull down for the final coats of epoxy.
update: Nope, not there yet but only an hour or two away.
One of the things I most wanted to do this year was flip the boat right side up. It's not going to happen this year. It will happen this coming spring.
I hope everyone has a nice long break at the end of this year and wish everyone a great 2019. I know it is going to a great boat building year and full of adventure.
And now November 2018 becomes January 2019. But don't fret, work has been accomplished. Slowly but surely. It has been either cold or raining. The glassed hull sweats like a cheating husband in the cross hairs. Impossible to get much sanding accomplished. Nevertheless, we are very close to being done. A few more small dents and scratches to fill and we will be ready for rolling on more epoxy. I plan on using the roll and tip method which should result in a finish that only need light sanding. It's still a big job but not so big as what I've been through. There will also need to be some filler added for a smooth transition between the keel stump and the hull. Right now it's a sharp transition and I will want to make a radius here so that when I encapsulate the keel, the glass will make a smooth transition to the hull.
More filling and sanding... more filling and sanding and then...
Last bit of sanding before adding additional layers of epoxy and the barrier coats. I found some soft spots where I fortified the bow. Turns out that the top layer of extra glass did not get good adhesion in two places. I'm not sure why. Maybe those areas did not get cleaned properly or perhaps the glass was not properly set. Anyway, the remaining glass won't pry up and I aggressively tried so I'll use thickened epoxy to smooth out these areas. I'll prep by doing a thorough cleaning and light sanding.
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| What will be the top edge of the bow. This area will probably be cut away for the bowsprit but I'll repair it as if it won't to make sure I have options. |
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| A little disconcerting. But I have made sure that these areas are the only ones affected by this issue. |
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| This was made out of a scrap piece of wood to create a radius fill around the keel stump below. |
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| I added some fill around the keel stump. I used the stylus above to create a smooth radius. |
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| Fix for the delamination shown above. |
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| Again, the fix for the delamination shown above. |
A few words about sanding. Hand sanding except in small hard to reach places is just not practical. Especially marine epoxy. I use three electric tools to sand. The orbital sander, the palm sander and the belt sander. Occasionally I might use an angle grinder with a sanding pad but this is more for shaping than sanding or at least removal of a large seam or some other difficult removal. It is very difficult to produce smooth results with an angle grinder and easy to make a mistake that will require filling or worse. The belt sander works well at removing seams in the fiberglass and working large areas that need a lot of material removal. Most smaller areas can be dealt with with an orbital sander or palm sander.
