Tuesday, January 25, 2022

2 Week "Vacation"

Well, it's been two weeks since I worked on the boat - a "vacation" - not! I did indeed come down with the covid virus. Thankfully I did not get real sick. I had a couple bad days, one night of fever, some aches and pains, and a little congestion. I think I'm just about past it, so I went back to work on the boat.

I didn't do a lot tonight, but I did get the second side sanded, though only with the 80 grit paper. I'll go back over it with the 120 grit later. 

As I sand, I can tell that the tiny holes (the nail holes from the battens) I filled with toothpicks and epoxy are going to need a little touch up. Once the boat is sanded, I'll wipe it down good with a wet rag, then I'll be able to see the places a little better. A little thickened epoxy, a little more sanding and it should be good. 


Thursday, January 13, 2022

Time for Sanding

I finished the 3 coats of epoxy. It did not turn out very smooth. It seemed like it wanted to bubble. Might make for an enjoyable sanding party.



 I also glued the runners on. Now to decide if I want to cover them with something like aluminum flat-bar to keep them from getting scrapped up too badly. The guys on the forum have suggested brass half-round or another product known as UHMW. I'm still thinking that the flat-bar will be the cheapest, easiest to get and install. I do think I'll put the brass on the stem. 




Time for sanding. I went out Tuesday night and sanded half the hull and the transom. I used 80 grit followed by 120 grit. Every 1/3 plank or so I have to unclog the sandpaper, but it's coming. 

I got ill Tuesday night. I suspect I have covid. Getting a test this afternoon. Might be a few days before I get back to the boat. 



Friday, January 7, 2022

First Coat of Epoxy

Moving right along! I got the first coat of epoxy on tonight, though not without some intrepidation.  

The first thing I tackled tonight was cutting out two runners. I'm concerned about tearing up the bottom of the boat, especially the edges of the first laps, when I land on the concrete ramp. I'm going to toughen up the bow, probably with a little extra fiberglass and also add two runners about mid-way back near the daggerboard slot. That should help.

I'll glue them on tomorrow, I guess. BTW: here's my setup with my belt sander. Makes for easy sanding of some small pieces like the runners.

Then I went about coating the hull with straight epoxy. I wanted to use the old stuff (11+ years old). It had crystalized a good bit. A few days ago I poured off the liquid part into an empty bottle using a strainer. Well, when I went to use it tonight, it had little crystals in it. Bummer! Can't use it. That certainly means I'll have to buy more epoxy and there goes my budget. Oh, well. 

That all took some time. I also contaminated my pump. I decided to do the bottom first. A few stray crystals wouldn't hurt there as much. Then my foam roller began to disintegrate and I was picking out little pieces of foam. Eventually I got it done. It took 3.5 hours all total for tonight's work. And the odor was strong. I put a fan at the vent to draw some fresh air in and even opened the door a little bit with the sub-freezing temps outside. 

I'm going to try and get a second on tomorrow and the third on Saturday. I'm thinking the next coats will go quicker. 




Saturday, January 1, 2022

The Skeg

I haven't been able to get in a lot of time but I have managed to work on the skeg.

Yesterday I cut out and laminated 4 pieces of ply in a long triangular shape from which I could cut out the skeg. You can't really see the shape in these pictures but you get the idea.


This morning I scribed the curve, cut out the skeg, sanded it up a bit and glued it down.




When the epoxy sets up, I'll go back and put a good fillet on it. 

Not far from coating this baby!!

Addendum:

Added the fillet.


It's not the prettiest fillet. I made it with straight "wood flour" which is "home grown"; i.e. I harvest it from my own cutting. It is too coarse, really; so the fillet is rough. I will not use it on the interior. Guess I'll have to order some. I did run the stuff through a finer strainer once and had better results, but it is a time consuming process.