Doublers on Rudder Head

After checking several more times, I'm still unsure what to do with the paint job. Should I go ahead and settle? Should I wait longer for it to cure better so I can sand it smoother? Should I turn the hull now and come back to it when I finish the interior? I'm even thinking about putting the finish coats on the bottom 3 planks and see how it turns out. If it's too bad, it won't matter a whole lot. If it's decent, maybe I'll proceed.

I might go ahead and build my main sail from the Sailrite kit I ordered months ago. That would buy me a couple weeks to mull it over. Whatever I do, I want the hull to look as good as is reasonably possible.

I wanted to get something done, so I decided to cut out and glue up the doublers on the rudder head. I took some left over planking material to cut them out. They are only about 6"x14" at their widest points. I cut out two pieces, put them together, drilled two 1/8" holes and drove a dowel into them so they wouldn't move. I traced the two edges from the rudder head onto the blank and drew the two curves. I cut them out with the band saw and glued them up. I used the dowel holes to drill into the head and used them to line up the doublers with the head. The dowels will be under the tiller extensions. The doublers look pretty good.

Feels good to get something done.

I'm Encouraged!

Well, I have been fretting over it. I want a good finish!

I went down tonight to check to see if the primer has cured enough to sand. It's close. It's rolling up a bit but not clogging the sandpaper. And the surface is coming up fairly smooth! At least as far as I can tell. I went over a plank and a half. It's looking decent to my eye. 

I'm going to wait another couple days and then see if I can sand the whole boat (might leave the sheer strake). Maybe I can get a 5' boat after all!!! 

Update: I went down again. Things are still the same. The big problem is that, if one of the little rolls of paint gets caught under the sander, it smashes it into the surface leaving a hump of sorts which is proving not easy to sand or scrap out. 

This is going to be a long process. 

I think I'm going to build my sail and just give this primer more time to set up. 

Priming Done!

 A long time coming, but the priming is done! After 6 hours or more of sanding, I was able to get 3 coats of primer on between Thursday night and Friday.

Here she is ready to paint:

The blue tape is to mark off the gunwale and the rub strip which will go on the sheer plank once I turn the hull. I figured it would be better to glue them to the wood rather than primer.

Working on that first coat:

After one coat:

I pulled the tape off after 2 coats on the sheer plank. I wanted to do that while the paint was still soft so that none of it would pull up when the tape came off. The tape was .94" and hung over the next plank so I needed to remove it anyway to get to that lap. I was able to get two coats on that plank while doing the first coat on the rest of the hull. I did put more tape on for a third coat. 

And 3 coats:

The paint really shows the imperfections. There are areas where the epoxy did not sand down really smooth. I'm hoping that after a little sanding on the primer most of that will disappear. I also discovered a few nail holes not completely filled. I stuck a little thickened epoxy in them. Seems every coat revealed more holes. I wound up with a bump up by the stem. I have no idea how that got there. I must have dropped a small bit of epoxy that stuck there??? 

And the transom:

My fiberglass work leaves a little to be desired as well. It's on the bottom so it really doesn't matter.

 Can't fret over any of this. When she's done, she's going to be one pretty boat!!!! Not a show boat - but pretty nonetheless! 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.