I'm not happy

with the results of the other day's epoxy session. I'm going to put boat building on hold for awhile. Hopefully by the spring my knee will be better and my mobility not as restricted. I'll also go looking for a helper who doesn't want $50/hr, retirement and medical benefits and a company car.

I'm making a lot of amateurish mistakes and that really bugs me because I know better but get in a rush to get through a job and end up wasting about $300-400 in materials.

So aside from a little sanding and filling that's all that's going to get done to the boat this year. Don't be disappointed. I'm not. I knew this was a big project and underestimated the amount of physical effort involved. Time to just step back a little and reassess the situation. It's not a race and we'll be back in the spring. Thanks for looking in.

Standby....

These friggin' guys

on the Internet make it look easy! Like hell! Six hours on top of the boat today and I only got one half of the keel epoxied. Up and down, up and down! I feel like I've been rode hard and put away wet! ;-)

I had a hard time getting the heavy fabric to lay over the curves and ended up with some bridging. I'll sand those out and fill them. I don't suspect it'll affect the structure at all. I just don't want any voids in the laminates. My second gaff was having to change epoxy brands mid way! I thought I'd have enough of the old stuff in the metering pump to get the job done! NOT! This monster sucks up epoxy like a drunken sailor with a keg 'o swish! I figure I used three full gallons on just the bottom and one side of the keel. That equated into about two dozen trips up and down the ladder to mix epoxy. *sigh* At least my bum knee is getting a good workout.

I don't think I'll tackle the rest tomorrow. Taking some friends out for brunch so that'll screw most of the day and I intend to goof off the rest of the day. It'll mean a couple hour sanding session before I can get the rest of the layers on. Oh well. That's the best I can do working alone.

Had a Close Encounter of the Third Kind the other day! :-)

Stay tuned!

A little whine with my cheese please

Bit of a frustrating day. The designer specifies two layers of fabric for the keel. The first layer has the fibers oriented in a 45/45 degree pattern. The most common biaxial fabric. The second layer has the fibers oriented in a 0/90 degree pattern. When laid over top of each other you have fibers oriented in 8 directions for maximum strength through the entire laminate.

Here you can see the end of the roll of fabric. The fibers are oriented at 45 deg angles to the long axis of the cloth.

Now the problem comes from the fact I specifically ordered 0/90 for this particular roll and was sent 45/45. *sigh* I didn't check the package when it arrived, about 6 months ago and was bought specifically for the keel. *double sigh* My own dumbass mistake.

In order to get past this lil' screw up I had to lay the second layer of cloth over the first at 45 deg angles. Not really a big deal just a lot more work. I didn't grab any pics 'cause I was a lil' cheesed off hence my whine. I'll get some pics tomorrow if I decide to go up on the boat and start epoxying all this together.

So ends the whine! Now for some brie please!

Working at a leisurely pace

suits me me thinks!

Well on my first day of "retirement" I wandered out to the shed after my morning coffee and started to roll out the long fabrics to laminate the hull.

This is the first layer of 1708 biaxial fabric to go on the keel. It gets trimmed and the other side done the same. Then a second layer 1208 will be added. The orientation of the fibers in the two different weight fabrics will give the strongest solution. A final top layer of 10 oz plain weave fabric will help with the cosmetics.

I puttered away for about 3 hrs or so then headed in for lunch. After lunch my "get up and go" got up and went so I made a command decision and had a lil' nappy! :-) We went out for dinner last night to celebrate the end of almost 20 yrs of carpooling with our former carpoolers and wives. It was a great time and we enjoyed it immensely. Thanks to Greg & Tim for picking up the tab. When it's your turn we'll do the same.

Anywho, more laying out fabrics, which is tricky up on top of the boat and some trimming then it'll all be ready to get glued down.

Standby....

Swallowing the anchor.

After 32 yrs in the Coast Guard this is my last day! The second happiest day of a sailor's life, walking down the gangway for the last time. It's been an adventure. Now it's time for the real fun to begin! :-)

Take me on a magic carpet ride

well not really. It's a 90 lb roll of fiberglass hovering above the hull!

All the keel seams are sanded and just need to be wiped down. Gotta wait for a lil' breeze to do that so the fumes don't knock me out!

Just takin' a lil' break now waiting for the troops to arrive to help out with the shed repairs.

Boy is it windy out there today!

Winds were gusting to 65 km/hr this morning. I was just about to climb back up on the boat for another session of seam sanding when a gust blew this section off the roof of the shed!

That's funny 'cause I don't remember building in a skylight! ;-) This is gonna be a PITA to fix but it's gotta be done. The inner liner of Tyvek will protect the shed from rain for awhile.

When the weather lets up I'll have to get some help and get this patched up. We've tried taping rips in the shrink wrap and they don't hold. I'm going to have to put another layer on and use some battens to hold them in place.

In hind sight the shrink wrap wasn't the best choice for a shed covering. It was the cheapest option at the time and I'm paying for that now.

I've been thinking.....

This is when Lori always says: "Uh oh!" :-)

Well I'm always thinking. I'm the idea guy! Straddling the line between genius and insanity I say!

I'm half thinking about revisiting the infusion process for some of this boat hull project. Gotta put some more thought into that. I'll eliminate a lot of issues but also adds some expense and a great potential for disaster! No risk, no reward, correct?

Anywho, this morning I tried filling the little voids left in the tape with straight epoxy. It immediately ran straight out. I think that was my problem. The epoxy just ran out leaving dry tape behind. The peelply should have helped mitigate this actually. So I decided to mix up a batch of "baby puke" (cause that's exactly what it looks like) which is epoxy thickened with micro baloons. It really does look like the stuff Daniel used to spit up all the time! :-)

This did a better job and will require just a light sanding before the next layers go over top. There are a few larger voids that'll have to be ground out and repaired.

The tape would just not lay down on some sections. I'm suspecting I got a bad roll of tape. Either got wet or contaminated somehow. Anyhow, no biggie, I ordered another roll from Noah's so we're all set now.

The keel seams are all taped now. Just a few small parts on the very back of the keel to add some extra material for piece of mind.

Once this is all setup it's back to the sander to prep the hull for fiberglass! Thank gawd it's been a long haul with a bum knee and the heat. I'm really looking forward to getting the outside done and this thing flipped!

Time to go put my thinkin' cap on and maybe a power nappy! :-)

Standby.....