Note to myself......... Fiberglass.........

It's getting bad when I have to leave notes to myself on the freakin' Internet!

Anyhow I'm deviating from the scantlings the designer specified for the fiberglass on the hull. I did this because I'm cheap. There, ok, I said it. I found a product (Quadaxial) fiberglass that would replace two layers of the specified (Biaxial) fabric. Although it's harder to work with it should ultimately save a bit of money. (If we don't screw it up)

Here's what I have on hand and what I see they'll cover on the hull.

1708 Biaxial   50" x 125 yds (sides/inside/outside)

1808 Biaxial x 55" x 25 yds  (sides inside if required)

1208 Double Bias 0/90 x 50"  40 yds (sides outside)

8 oz Satin Finish 50" x 50 yds (bottom/keel/sides outside)

33 oz Quadaxial 50" x 50 yds  (bottom/keel inside and out)

We've already used some of these fabrics on the interior bulkheads. That's where we learned a lot about the heavier fabrics and what it takes to work with them properly.

Some of you might remember these jobs.

Some of our attempts weren't always successful. I've got some quality time with my grinder in store down the road to fix this mess.

Anywho, that's about it. The main part of this exercise was to take stock of my fiberglass supplies. I know I've got more than 'nuff to do the hull. The next big purchase will be the epoxy (30 gallons) (which has gone up $20/gallon)!

Maj. T.J. 'King' Kong

Major T. J. "King" Kong: Goldie, how many times have I told you guys that I don't want no horsing around on the airplane boat?

Just like my hero, Maj. Kong, who rode the nuke dropped on the rooskies I was ridin' the boat today! Yahoo! Boy was it hot too! 38 degs C this afternoon. Epoxy was cooking off in my hand before I could get it laid out.

Anyhow, before I got to that point I had to pull the last stitches from the hull/keel panels. :-) It's always nice getting your stitches out eh? While I was up there I measured for the depth sounder transducer hole. It's one of the kind that shoot through the hull but there can't be any core so I have to cut the hole then plastic it up while the hull gets fiberglassed. With the added fiberglass inside it'll work nicely right dead nuts in the center of the keel about 4" behind frame B and about 6' from the bow. We'll have a second transducer on the transom as well so we'll know depths fwd and stern.

Way too hot now to do anything else. I had planned to get the keel all taped but it's too hot. Telltale on the thermometer showed 43.5 degs C yesterday while we were out on the road. That's with the ventilation open and the fans going too! *Yikes*

Ya know what they say eh?

If ya can't take the heat, get outta the kitchen! Or in this case, get offa the boat!

I couldn't take it much more than 10 mins up there at that temp! I'm sure it was actually a few degs warmer which would make it damn near 100 degs F! I taped those seams 3 hrs ago and they're rock hard now! Normally the epoxy takes 15-18 hrs to cure to that hardness.

Anyhow, it's progress. Small steps all add up to somethin'! :-)

Stay cool my friends!

Found a bargain

I think!

130 watt solar panels for $175.50 each! That's $1.35/watt! :-)

 

http://www.solarblvd.com/p50/Kyocera-130-Watt-12-Volt-Solar-Panel.-KC130GT-2/product_info.html

Back into the boat shed tonight. Have to build some racks for the very nice aged Black Cherry lumber I picked up this week. Won't need it till likely next summer but the price was good so I grabbed it!

Standby...

I haven't seen this in almost 20 years

Captain Ron

Hilarious! I hope our future Caribbean adventures are half as much fun!  ;-)~

Oh yeah, boat building. I got part of the keel bottom glued and taped. The keel flexes around a lot when I'm up there, no lightweight ya know, so it's hard to get stuff in position for gluing. Anywho, it's curing now so tomorrow I can do some sanding and more taping. Sorry, no pics again. It's just boring fiberglass & epoxy stuff.

Robaxacet Time!

Managed to get two layers of tape on the keel/hull seams then my back seized up!

Popped a few Robax's and gonna lay down.

Sorry, no pics today.