Exterior “done”
By Ed
No pictures – left camera at home and forgot to snap a pic with my cell phone (ok, actually it was just too hot to stay in the garage long enough to take a picture)… Temps have been in the low 100’s for the past 2 weeks, but we’ve (slowly) got a little done. Well, we’ve been working slowly except where epoxy is involved… Tried paint-rollers for the exterior of the main hull because of all the curves and found it a joy. We were able to work in batches of around 2000 grams of epoxy in two paint trays without anything catching on fire, but if one doesn’t remove the roller after each batch it soon fizzles and becomes solid with the handle. Just roll on until partially translucent and then use a plastic squeegy to finish the job. Very impressed with how well it worked.
The main hull exterior is laminated with the exception of the bow, the aft “sugar scoop” area (top-side, which we’ll do after installing rudder web and other stern deck), and the final extra laminate at the port-side deck of frame 5. The settes are 100% finished, and there are few remaining interior bits left to laminate (other side of DB web, web at aft of DB case, and “interior” of bow bulkhead space). Plan next week is to glass the top portion of the bow bulkhead and bow top while still upside down, and sand the rough edges on the overlaps on the exterior. Then Saturday at 0800 to lift the hull back up, set on cradles and secure to start getting level for beam mount installation.
Am very excited that with the exterior solid, the inside is now “safe” to walk, crawl, stand, jump in without hearing scary noises from un-laminated foam. Time to start working out where we’re going to put electrics, head, etc. I’m sure this means dad and I will start bickering in full force soon – but if he gets too crazy I can always tell him that it’s “not to plan” … 😉
Our beams made it to Long Beach, CA last week and I’m waiting for an update to see if they’ve cleared customs and are on their way here via railway.
All for now… pictures next weekend!