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.

Day 42: Deck Fillets

After the holidays,  I heated up the shop to do some epoxy work.  This is a pic of the port-side fillet for the deck.  The starboard fillet and spare oar slot were also done.  The stern edge of the deck was glassed as well.

The second coat of fairing was spread on the hatch lids.

This pic is the filleted, glassed and sanded hatch gutter.  They are ready for the next step.

Christmas brought some really fun times and gifts.  Some new hardware is pushing the boat building forward.

yeah!

Day 41: Fiberglassing the Bow Hatch, Fairing

Laid glass on the bow hatch deck today.  It was a little cooler in the shop so the epoxy was thick.  It definitely takes more epoxy on cold days.   I think this would be a lighter boat if we could keep the shop warm.

Also put fairing compound along the edges of the gutter tape as well as some corners that needed it.

This fairing compound is really light weight stuff.  I made a small bear sculpture out of the extra last night and when I picked it up this morning it was as light as air.  Pretty cool.

-I also cut off the excess glass sticking up from the gutters.
-Cut out any air bubbles from the glass tape and filled with fairing compound... not many. -yeah!
-Coated the end grain of the exposed inner gutter wall with epoxy.
-Glued the drain pipe to the boatman's footwell.

When I glassed the gutters yesterday I left the tape heavily wetted-out in hopes that it would produce a smooth surface on the bottom of the gutter.  It worked in all the areas where I had sufficient epoxy in the tape.  There are just a few areas that I may have to fair.  everything looks pretty good.

Christmas begins tomorrow so I buttoned up the shop for a few days.  Unplugged and cleaned up.  Its lookin pretty spiffy.  I'm dying to sand and finnish the gutters but it will be easier with a few days of curing anyway.

Came home to a beautiful night on the bay and a message on the phone that my Dad has found some good ash for the oars and the oar lock blocks are in production.  Things are getting exciting!

Day 40: Fiberglassing the Hatch Gutters

Put in a solid 11 hours at the shop today.

Prepped the gutters for glass and precut all the tape.  Then went for it.  The only hang up was the serrated scissors finally gave out.  It was definitely messier with just the plain scissors.

I used a ziploc bag to apply the fillet into the tight angles.  Worked great.

This pic is the precut glass tape before the epoxy and fillets.

Pic is post fillet and epoxy.

Also sanded the fairing compound on the hatch lids.  Just did a quick pass with the orbital.  Still need to hand sand the edges and true the lips.

Long day with the epoxy.  That stuff is nasty.  Hope the respirator really does what it says it does. I still feel a little loopy.

Day 39: Faring the Hatch Lid and Gutters

Just a half day today. Since the glass was still a bit soft I spread on the first thin coat of fairing compound on the hatch lids.

The tops, rounded edges and the front face got a coat.  The other 3 sides will probably be left alone depending on how they fit.

This is a pic of the towers we used to elevate the hatch lids off the table.

Also put some fairing compound along the hatch gutters where needed.  All the depressions from the dogs were filled, corners smoothed, gaps filled... hopefully in preparation for filleting and glassing the gutters tomorrow.

This is pic of where the stern cross hatch gutter exits. The purple putty is the fairing compound.

I chiseled the exposed wood gutter back 1/8" from the surface so that I could apply a sufficiently thick epoxy end cap.  I think it will look nicer and hopefully be more durable.