Thursday, February 9, 2017

The Hull Exterior

I glassed the exterior of the hull today. I decided not to include a photo, because it wouldn't show much.
I learned a few new things about fiberglassing:
Warming the resin in a hot water bath helps it spread more easily, and it seems to saturate the glass faster.
Instead of struggling to make the glass fit the stern, I cut a "dart" and folded the ends. Makes things much easier, wonder why I hadn't tried this before.
The secret to avoiding ripples! Apply resin in an even coat, and skive off the excess as soon as the glass is saturated.
I gave the roller another try at one point, and gave up on it. I think that it only works well if a saturation coat has been applied to the wood, otherwise it just wants to lift the glass off the boat.
Instead of multiple layers, I decided on two strips of 10 oz. glass at the only places I've ever had a problem with abrasion: the bow & stern. it looks like they're going to need a lot of epoxy to fill.
I put a strip of 4 oz. glass over the 10 oz. to smooth out the job.
The skeg box opened. I think that I did this before glassing the hull last year-this time I did it after glassing the hull, and it seemed to go easier. I cut it a little deeper than I really wanted to, but this time, it looks straight.





I decided to sand the hull down to #220 wet paper before glassing the deck. I figured that it would be work, whether I did it now or later. I tried Nick's technique of using  a doubled sheet of sandpaper, with no block, and it worked rather well. Sand, scrape, R.O.S, repeat, until its done.

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