Interior sealing

As a miserable, cold rain fell outside, and Team USA struggled against Slovakia in Mens Olympic Hockey, I put the first of two overall coats of epoxy on the interior hull. Even though the strakes had been previously coated or fiberglassed, this overall coat of unthickened epoxy served to seal the inter-strake joints, as well as to fill the weave of the fiberglass on the bottom panels. But first, I spent some time to give a final sanding to the stitch holes that I had previously plugged. This involved sanding the plugged holes, and also the edge of the fiberglass, which although carefully trimmed, was a little ragged in spots. After the prep sanding, I then had to spend time vacuuming and wiping down the surfaces which had become extremely dusty. (Which reminds me, can anyone recommend a good shop vac?) After the cleanup, I applied a coat of epoxy to the entire hull interior, giving special attention to the strake joints. I found that placing the foam roller lengthwise along the joint and pressing would squeeze some epoxy into the joint. Then rolling gently over it would give a smooth finish.

I also glassed the interior surfaces of the daggerboard trunk. This was the first modification to the build instructions that I have made; it was suggested to me that this would be a good use of fiberglass cloth scraps that I have accumulated. So I applied the cloth and saturated with epoxy, then I quickly trimmed the edges using a straight edge, and removed the glass cloth where the trunk spacers will be. With a putty knife, I scraped the epoxy from the spacer surfaces, so as to have a clean mating surface. When the epoxy gels, Ill trim the cloth overhang. Total hours 50.75.

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Sealing seams

After spending about an hour tightening the stitches in the hull, it was time to seal the joints between the strakes with epoxy. Whether it was some shifting of parts after flipping the hull, or stretching of the copper wire from stress, I found that many of the stitches were loose. My biggest concern was that loose joints would allow epoxy to drip through to the interior, making a big mess that would take lots of sanding to fix. So after about an hour going over each of the hundreds of stitches in the hull and tightening many, it was ready for the glue. (It is a stitch-n-glue boat, after all.) I mixed up a batch of Cabo-sil-thickened epoxy and transferred it to my zip-lock bag injector. This session would just tack the strakes together between the stitches. Later the stitches are removed and the seams are then fully filled. I found it easiest to get the epoxy properly deep into the joint in the second and third joints. Here the chines are hardest, and there is plenty of room to work. The joint between the #1 strake and the bottom panel was the hardest to fill, since it is a very narrow angle as well as being the highest- just barely in reach as the boat sits on the sawhorses. In order to keep the temperature within curing range, I placed my space heater under the hull so it would trap a bubble of warm air which will hopefully radiate through the wood to the epoxy. The temp in the shop was about 53 degrees, while the air in the hull was 72 degrees. I was able to get nearly all of the seams done before it was time for the Bears game. So, more tomorrow. Go Bears!! Total hours 34.50.

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Seam sealing part II

I finished up the last of the seams that didnt get done yesterday before the football game. I neednt have hurried; the Bears lost. In fact, the game was so disappointing that in the second half, we put in a rental movie, Red, and enjoyed it very much. So today I finished up the first epoxy injection of the remaining joints, including the #1 panels/bottom panel joints- the hardest to reach and to get epoxy into. Tomorrow I can start removing the hundreds of stitches that have been holding the hull together until now. Total hours, 35.25.

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