Day 31: Spare Oar Slot

The cold continues to be a bit of a curse.  I could see my breath in the shop all day and by 4pm the ground outside was already crystalized with ice.  Of course the fairing compound I spread yesterday was too soft to sand even though it was the "fast" hardener.  It seemed pretty hard until I put the sander too it.  The pic shows the problem.

The heat was left on medium tonight in hopes of curing things.

The test pieces did cure after 48 hours.  Hurray!!  This means the ratio is correctly set on the epoxy dispenser... at least for small batches.  A sigh of relief after seeing the epoxy on these pieces nice and hardened.

The set up for the fast.

!!These are the pieces for our hatch gutters.  My Dad brought them up last night.  I cannot wait to get started.  As soon as my Dad gets to the island we'll go for it.

They are all grouped by hatch and pre-measured. Hope the glueing process will go easy.

At the shop today I cut out a piece for the riser to the spare oar slot.  It was a bit complicated due to the emerging deck lines... so it took a substantial amount of time.  I ended up with a great fit in the end.

In this photo the straight edge is parallel to one of the cuts and the other edge is visible in the foreground.  I was hoping to use 3/8" ply but couldn't find a long enough piece so I used 1/2".  The riser is fairly small so the weight added is pretty minimal.  It does take up more space.  I hope my spare oars fit!

The inside surface was glassed as well.

Other projects today:
1. Faired the front passenger footwell
2. Filled in blemishes of the 1st round of fairing in the corners.
3. Round 2 of fairing on the front passenger seat where the seat meets the hull.
4. Design change to the deck of the spare oar slot so the length was elongated.  Lamelloed and glued it.  Will glass tomorrow.

Wow.  I've been working on this boat for a month.  I bought a really nice micro-brew to celebrate.  As son as my Dad gets here we'll crack it open.  ...no champagne yet!