Glassing

Yesterday saw a lot of work. I made some fairing compound and faired the small gaps and edges of the thick biaxial to the hull. Then I sanded down all 12 sheer stringer doublers and 2 sets of chainplate knees, glued them on, filleted them, and glassed them in. Following that up I filled the weave on them with some thickened epoxy and filled the weave along the underside of the sheerstringer. Lastly I rolled on one more coat of neat epoxy over the hulls in prep for final sanding on Saturday. I plan to sand the biax fairing, hull-sides, and sheer and knees down to 120 on Saturday, and hopefully will be rolling on some epoxy primer on Sunday! I'm pretty stoked to take a break from the damn hulls today and work on some smaller bits for once.

Biaxial Keel Strip

Today I laid the 1708 biaxial tape along the keel. It is some beefy stuff to say the least! I laid it upside down on a plastic sheet to wet it out from the bottom before laying it along the keel. After that I did two more fill coats of epoxy thickened with silica and phenolic microballoons. It is now filled in completely, and I will sand it down in the morning and add fairing compound along the edges to fair it to the hull. I also cut out and shaped the sheerstringer doublers today and will get them glued, filleted, and glassed in tomorrow. All 12 of them :(   Ali was in town this past weekend, and she helped me wet out the glass along the anchor locker coamings, coat main hatch coamings, sand toe rails, and helped a buddy and myself to flip the hulls over. She's getting pretty stoked for the launch and quitting her job in November to go cruising! Tomorrow I will sand and fair in the biaxial, install the doublers, and lay down a final barrier coat of clear epoxy that will then be sanded down to 120 grit in order to...........hopefully.......lay down some epoxy primer this weekend!

Bare glass is super thick

Wet out

Two fill coats rolled on. Good to go!

A good helper who now knows how to glass, sand, coat, and fill fiberglass is always a plus

Well Ali and I got all of the beam sockets installed and epoxy coated. They look pretty sweet! I also glassed the anchor locker coamings yesterday in preparation to flip hulls. We were stapling the fiberglass to the battens in prep to glass, and I ended up snapping one. After some words, I decided I'm just going to get some 1/4X1 aluminum strap and get my welder neighbor to bend it up for me. Epic failure on the glass wrapped battens.

 

 

 

 

Today I got the rest of the beam sockets ready and glued up. I also fitted some bases for the dodgers and mocked up the dodgers. I'm using a faux wood batten and will wrap it in 8 or so layers of fiberglass to form each dodger hoop. A central strip along the end of the main hatch rails will be the front connection for the dodger canvas. They will basically be like Cooking Fat's. My stepmom came out today and helped sand all of the crossbeam fillets which was a great help for me. I still need to do the bottom plank fillets on the mast crossbeam, so unfortunately I will be doing that tomorrow. I also hope to install the sheerstringer doublers, make the main and anchor locker hatches, and glass the anchor locker coamings tomorrow as well. I've started the mast foot and step and dolphin striker, so maybe I'll have time to get around to those tomorrow as well. She's getting close, but still looks rough and needs more sanding and coating of some more parts before I can prime her.

Dodger hoops will be fastened to the small blocks seen next to main hatch rails. I glued them up after I took this photo.

Hatch coamings for main and anchor are glued up after today. I also glued up the beam sockets and will sand them down to a good fit tomorrow. My stepmom is coming out to help me sand down the crossbeams which will save me a few hours of work easily. Painting this weekend! I forgot my tablet today so no pictures unfortunately.

Today I worked on a lot of little parts and cut a lot of hatch coaming pieces out. I was going to glue up the beam sockets and coamings, but by the time I was done with everything it was late enough to call it a day. Everything will be glued first thing in the AM. I'm really trying to have the decks ready for painting this weekend when my girlfriend is in town, so hopefully it all goes to plan! I'm sorry for the poor quality pictures. My iPhone was lost when our monohull sunk the Dauphin Island Regatta disaster a few weeks go, so I'm working with an el cheap-o for the time being. I'll try to take my tablet with me from now on to get some clearer shots.

Hulls are finally fully glassed. Beams need sanding and epoxy coating.

I'm doing a sliding hatch instead of the standard design as I think it's a little more seaworthy overall.  The opening is 20 inches wide and 25 inches deep. Dodgers will be installed over the hatches to keep spray out and allow some ventilation in the rain. I haven't decided how I'm going to make the dodgers. They will either by wooden battens bent over and glassed or aluminum square tubing welded up. The business next to me is a welding shop, so I'll see what kind of deal I can work out.

Glassed (Whew!)

Well the hulls are fully glassed now! I have one layer of 6" tape along keels and two overlapping layers over the keel from the hullside pieces. So that's three layers of 6 oz which will be followed up with a layer of 1708 biaxial. I was going to lay the biax today, but after six hours of orbital sanding I decided I'm tired of glassing and will start prepping the decks this week. I'm going to install the beam sockets tomorrow and hatch coamings. My girlfriend is coming next weekend to help paint, so I really want to get the decks and beams ready for that. All I need to do on them is sand them and install the aforementioned pieces. I'll probably be priming on Friday! The sides are busted down to 80 grit now, and I will follow that up with 120 before I prime them. I'm also pretty sure I'm going to install some mini keels like Rory McDougall as well.

Getting Smooth!

Scary Angle, but she looks sick

Halfway

Both inboard sides have been glassed and two fill coats applied. Tomorrow I'll flip them and do the other sides after a light sanding. Saturday will see biaxial along the keels.

Glassing hulls!

Well turns out Glassing hulls takes forever! Two hours per side each. The only thing good about it is the progress that it represents. I'm doing the port hull inside tomorrow and will do both the outsides on Friday.

Keels

The keels are all sanded smooth and ready for their first layer of 6" tape. I used wood flour and silica for the keel fillets, and they were a major PITA to sand down as a result. However, they are extremely burly and rock solid. I had to go out of town for a wedding this weekend, but I will be back at it on Monday when I plan to lay the tape, fillet sheer stringer undersides, and round off sheerstringers. Hopefully Tuesday will see some hullside glassing!

Well the topsides have been weave filled and sanded. I'd say they are about 80 percent ready for painting. I need to install the hatch coamings for the anchor locker and main hatches before I can paint, and I plan to do this while the hulls are on their sides for glassing. I decided to go with a 19x24 inch main sliding hatch as opposed to the planned design as I think it will be a little more seaworthy for offshore sailing. A dodger is planned as well. Luckily my new shop has a welder next door, so he is probably going to do my dodgers and chainplates if we can work out a cheap deal. Today he helped me flip the hulls to start working on the keels and sides, and I (we) could tell Beto is putting on a few lb's! Today I sanded the keels down and ground down the copper wire remnants. This was followed by filling in the gaps between ply sides and keel strip from the top of the stems to the top of the skegs. Tomorrow I'll sand this fair and possibly apply some tape along the keels. The big thing for tomorrow is rounding off the bottom of sheerstringers and doing mini fillets along their length. If all goes as planned, you should see some glass on hullsides next Tuesday! I'm getting stoked being this close to the finish, and plan to throw down 10 plus hour days till she's launched.

A few bumps here and there from glassing when it was kind of cold and having the hardener kick before we could fully squeegee. All is well, as the areas affected will be coated with thick/bomber Kiwi Grip.

Look at this girl's curvesssssss

New Shop

Well I was able to procure a small warehouse space to finish Beto out! I no longer have to worry about working in the blaring sun or having zero days due to rain. I'll post some new setup pictures tonight or tomorrow, but for now I am just getting everything moved over. Now I can work late at night and basically whenever I want. Stoked. On a side note, I gave my trailer the inaugural run on the interstate, and she tows like a dream.

Topsides are all glassed, and fairing compound has been applied to most surfaces. She's almost ready to flip. I'm stoked to glass the easy, flat surfaces of the hullsides. 

Towing fine