Saturday, March 16, 2013

Today I finished up applying glass tape to all of the bulkhead fillets, and I cut out the forward and aft decks. Grace worked on filling in the stem and skeg with fillet material. We are on the way out to a movie right now, so I don't have time to write much. I will note that we were all ready to go bouldering at Moore's Wall tomorrow, but rain has come into the region and completely laid waste to our excitement and plans..........


We could have been crushing (or attempting to) here   :(

Thursday, March 14, 2013

I didn't get anything done on the boat today, but we did get another shipment of rigging in the mail.

  • Main Sheet and Halyards (Green)
  • Jib Sheets and Halyard (White)
  • Traveller (Black)
  • Traveller Control Lines (Black and White)
  • Downhaul
  • Deck Cleats for Sea Anchor/Anchoring from Forward Beam
  • Deck Cleats for Stern Deck (Drogue Deployment)
  • Harken Swivel Cam Cleat for Mainsheet

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Well I almost made it! I forgot that I hadn't added the backing pads for the forward beam and shroud lashing pad yet, so I have six fillets left to do. These will be easy though. Grace's brother is in town and managed to loft up the decks for the port hull today.


Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Today I applied glass tape to the bunk fillets in the port hull. I'm using the method Scott Williams used on Element II for the taping, since I didn't want a massive 3" wide piece of tape on small bunk fillets. You simply mask out the size you want the finished product to be with blue painters tape. Then, you apply the tape. Once the epoxy has cured for an hour or so and it is somewhat difficult to pull up the tape, you cut right inside the painter's tape line and peel away all of the excess. It makes for a nice, clean outline. I also glued in all of the diagonal stiffeners in the starboard hull, and tomorrow, hold your breath, I will finish out all of the bulkhead fillets in it.



Tape and Excess Peeled away. Tomorrow I will apply a filler coat to fill in the weave of the cloth.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Well the weather is finally starting to warm up! I have filleted all of the bunks, top and bottom, on the port hull. Getting underneath and applying fillets to the bunks' undersides was a bit of a pain, but I used the zip lock bag method and it worked out pretty well. I mix the fillet material (microfibres, silica, and wood flour) and then scoop it into a ziplock bag, keeping it all in one of the corners of the bag. Then I squeeze the air out and twist up the bag and cut a hole in the corner. I then essentially have a cake icing setup, which allows easy and even flow of the epoxy into tight corners whilst bent over the hull and looking into a dark bilge. The use of a flashlight to help light up the working area proved quite helpful as well. I plan on glass taping all of the fillets tomorrow, and installing the diagonal stiffeners in the starboard hull as well. I really want to be ready for decks by the first of April. If this warm weather holds up, it shouldn't be a problem at all.

All nice and filleted. I really like the hue of the wood flour compared to our plywood.


We also got in our first shipment of rigging. Today I received:
Traveller Control Line Clam Cleats and Block
Swage Tool
Downhaul Clam Cleat
Jib Sheet Cleats and Blocks (One Block was Shipped Seperately)
Jib Halyard Block and Cleat (Black Horn)
Main Sail Blocks and Snaphook
Main Halyard Blocks and Cleats