The Good and the Bad and the Good

The fairing and sanding continues. Greg read about a really neat idea that will likely save us countless hours of eyeballing, and in the end, provide us with a significantly more accurate finished product...

In my last entry, you saw the level that showed approximately how much filling we need to do. Well, Greg decided to wrap that level in plastic, run a strip of filler under where the level was, and then essentially mash the level into the filler and let things dry. After the filler dried, he removed the level, shaved down the excess epoxy and voila, he had a "rail" that gave us a guide for how much filler we need to use. By running a second "rail" down the center, and a third one down the other side, we had a rail system built, which will allow us to roll out a single, thick, accurate layer of filler and dramatically reduce the amount of sanding and fairing we will need to do. A stroke of genius!


On the downside, when sanding yesterday, we came across a big spot that was starved for epoxy, as shown (and outlined) in the picture to the right. This is an area thats come back to haunt us from way-back-when. The area is approximately 4"X3." Its nothing that cant be overcome, but is a little frustrating.

We have yet to decide how to address the issue, but Greg has two ideas... one is to use fiberglass filler and epoxy, the other is to use glass micro-filler and epoxy. Ive found one or two other spots like this, but theyre small, in non-structural areas, and easy to fix.



Heres another small stroke of genius Greg ran across...

-Are you tired of constantly stirring epoxy and/or thickener?

-Are you working by yourself and would like to save a little time?

-Are you working with fast hardener, and tired of worrying if its going to kick too quickly?

If any of these problems apply to you, then you should try what Gregs doing in this picture to the right. Use a drill (or drill press) and a paint-stirring bit to do the work for you. Its quicker and easier. Just remember to take measures to protect your drill. It would really suck if you ended ruining your drill because it got all gummed up with epoxy.

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Take your time when you lay the tape

Reinforced Stringers 1
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

Its best to take your time when you set the fiberglass tape on the joints. If you fail to adequately saturate the tape with epoxy, or if you fail to adequately set the tape onto the wood, the tape wont bond well to the wood, as shown in this picture.

Its really not a big deal to correct this problem; all we had to do was cut away the tape that didnt bond to the wood, feather the edges and lay down another piece of saturated tape... but it would have been nice to have gotten it right the first time.

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Notching the transoms

Rear Transom
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.


Front Transom
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

Progress is slow but steady. Our goal is not to have marathon building sessions, but to do a little every time. This should help prevent us from getting burned out on the project.

Yesterday we put notches in the transoms. The notches are where the stringers will eventually be placed.

Putting the notches into the stringers is a relatively precise process. First, we ran chalk lines from corner to corner diagonally across the transom (in an "X" pattern) in order to find the center of the transom. Next, we measured top corner to top corner, marking the halfway point, and bottom corner to bottom corner, again marking the halfway point. By drawing a line through the three points we measured, we have a straight vertical line from which we can measure where well put the stringer cutting points.

In order to find the stringer cutting points, we measured out from that center line, using a square, so we were sure the measuring points would be straight and drew lines accordingly. Then we played with the router, notched the transoms and generated a lot of sawdust.

Click here to see the video summary of what we did.

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Time Flies

Man, I cant believe its been over three weeks since Ive updated this blog. Even worse, I cant believe its been that long since anything has been accomplished on the boat. The lack of progress will hopefully come to an end tomorrow though, as Greg and I get back into the swing of things. Im a little disappointed that our progress has stalled, but its because Ive been out of town, so Ill cut myself a little slack... of course theres nothing thats prevented Greg from working on the boat while Ive been gone, but thats another story.

Ive already discussed the Boys Trip we had over Memorial Day weekend, but I havent mentioned my family vacation to the Buffalo, NY area. That trip was a blast, but its a little off-topic for this blog. If youre interested in reading about it though, feel free to head on over to my other blog.

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Time to Fair

Greg and I started the long task of filling in the low spots. This pic is a "before" shot that will show you how much area we have to fill.

You may also be interested in seeing me do another household project using epoxy.

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Prime Time!

We are finally breaking out of sanding and fairing hell! Last night Greg and I did a final round of sanding on the bottom and the starboard side, using 120 grit sandpaper, and applied a coat of primer to the areas we sanded. Over the next week or two we will finish sanding and applying the first coat of primer.

Those of you who have been stuck in sanding and fairing hell can appreciate how happy we are over hitting this milestone. But considering how long weve been doing this -- roughly two years now -- this accomplishment is especially sweet. Since I rode my bike over to Gregs house, I didnt bring the camera so once again I dont have any pictures yet, but I think Im going to wait until the boat is completely primed.

I still cant describe how gratifying it is to be coming out of hell.

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