Got a little behind with my posts. Sorry. Saturday my buddy Jim came over to help out with the epoxy work on the stbd side. Jim's a great guy. He built himself a huge Bruce Roberts in steel about 20 years ago. Tide Rider!
Being an ex-school teacher he was fascinated with the entire fiberglass/epoxy process. He'd used a little on Tide Rider but this was on a scale he'd never seen before. I spent quite a bit of time explaining all the ins and outs of the process and he just went to it. About all I could was stand back and watch! :-)
Between tobacco offerings to the Great Peacemaker and lunch etc. we only managed to get about 2/3 rds of the way through the side panel. I laid on the peel ply and let it be. I'd pick it up the next day.
I had some great tips from some very experienced fiberglass guru's on the Interwebs and used their advice. The results are better for this side than the one I did myself. I'll still have a few very minor bubbles to fix and some sanding but I think it's going to be ok.
The whole week I've been having trouble with my hands. Tingling and numbness in my hands when I'm using the sander and when I was rolling out the epoxy. It got so bad it woke me up in the night a few times. Bit the bullet and saw the Quacker today. Sure 'nuff I've got carpal tunnel syndrome. This was confirmed with an electrical test. :-( I don't know how I'm going to deal with this with the amount of sanding etc. I have left on the boat. I'll get some splints for my wrists but I don't know if I'll be able to work much with them on. If it's not one thing it's another. Dammit!
Check out sanders made by Hutchins... smoothest, least vibrating DA sander I've ever used.
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