Day 43: Deck Fairing

Faired the deck today... well, most of it.  Ran out of epoxy with about 25% left to go.

Used the phenolic microballoons again.  They sand down so easily that I really like using them despite the fact that they are a little tricky to work with when wet.

Decided to go with a thick coat of fairing instead of my usual super thin method. Hoping to cut down on the number of coats this way.

I sanded the glass before I did this as it had quite  a bit of blush... maybe from all the cold weather curing.

These are the "lips" for the hatch gutters.  They are curing over the heater for round 2 of an epoxy coat.

They are 1/4" ply and will turn the U shaped gutters into nearly a full rectangle.  The lip on the hatch lid will squeeze between the edge of the deck and this gutter lip... Alumaweld style.

I've gotten some questions about how these gutters will drain.  Here are some pics which I hope will clairify.

This is a view of the starboard side hatch with the boatman's footwell in the foreground.  Looking closely at the top edge of the footwell riser there are cutouts in the wall which are the drain outlets for the gutters.

Here is a close up of the starboard gutter outlet.

I am hoping to get away with this method by adding two drainage factors:
1.  The gutters are pretty big to shed water quickly.  Most gutters are 2" deep and 1" wide. (This one is a little wider)
2.  The entire deck and gutter have a constant slope toward the stern.  This will help shed water more quickly.

My fingers are crossed though.  If I have to add drain tubes later I will but it sure would be nice to go without.

Port side of the Front Cross Hatch.

Plan view of an outlet.

Outlet for the front cross hatch gutter.

I'm questioning this one a bit.  Its in the center of the boatman's foot well and about 2" wide x 3/8ish.  I'm doubting that it will be enough to drain in big water.  This will be the hatch drain to modify potentially.

Well thats the drain slide show.  Happy to take more pics or add detail.  Just let me know.

Let me end with something a little prettier than all this.

Dirtbag & the Orca Bay I.
And thats me in the stern freaking out... before I ever dreamed of rowing rivers.