More Fiberglassing aft section And Hints!

I completed fiberglassing the starboard side between the transom and bulkhead 8. On this side I used a little different method ( see hints below ) and took a little more time getting things right before starting to mix the epoxy. I made sure the edges were trimmed. The roll of fiber glass has the edges with about 1/4 inch little pieces. I cut those off to make a smoother edge. I also watched a video on OffCenterHarbor that helped. This is a pay site, but well worth it for first time builders like me. I also posted on PocketShip.net and got some good advice from "bflat".  Thanks Bob!

I also applied 2 more coats of epoxy after work a couple days. I will sand later.

Some hints.
-For vertical surfaces use a brush. This is mentioned in the manual.
- I used a roller on the horizontal surfaces.
-Do more of a dabbing with the brush vs. brushing. The brushing does pull he fiberglass.
-If you do brush, use horizontal strokes on the vertical sides. The horizontal does not pull the fiberglass away from the fillet area.
-to get clean edges, you can use the blue tape method. I choose not too.
-I used small tacks to hold the fiberglass in place. Tape will pull on the threads. Tape wood work good on the blue tape method.
-wet the surface a little on the fiberglass to hold in place.
- if you put too much epoxy on, us a rag to soak up some. This should have been common sense to me! :-)

As with everything you do for the first time is a learning curve. I am doing the sections that will be covered up so no one will see, but I still want it done right.

I am away for a mini weekend trip, so I will post some pics when I get back.

More sanding fillets and first interior fiberglassing!

Earlier in the week, I spent a 1.5 hour session sanding the interior fillets. I estimate I have 10 hours of sanding fillets. Not much fun, but necessary. I find that I can easily do 1.5 hours at a time and get in a zone. To protect my ears, I have a headset that I wear. Works good. I need to figure out how to connect some music, since it has a music port.

Today, I started off doing some more sanding and I am still not finished. For a change of pace, I  decided to fiberglass the back Bulkhead 8 to Transom. I made a rough template and cut the piece of fiberglass. I laid it in the boat and trimmed as necessary. I made sure all that the fiberglass was laying flat and then started to mix up some epoxy.

Fiberglass ready to be wetted out.

Well everything started off good, but I found it difficult to wet out the fiberglass. The bottom part was easy, I poured some epoxy and used a roller brush to do the bottom. I started to run into problems as I used a brush and started to use the vertical portions. I managed to get everything down, but I am not very satisfied with the final result. I will see what it looks like tomorrow. 

I may try using the tape method, because one problem I was having is the edges. While brushing epoxy, I would grab a piece of fiberglass on the edge and pull it. 

Fibersglass wetted out. 

I should have taken a picture from the other angle. The transom turned out pretty good. It was the vertical sections on the outside that didn't look very good to me. 

More Sanding of Fillets!

I spent about 2.5 hours yesterday and another 2-3 hours today sanding the fillets. Some have been quick to sand and others have taken some work. I did notice the port side fillets were easier and I remembered that I had climbed into the boat to do this side vs. trying to reach over into the boat to do the starboard side. I have a few more sessions of sanding to get things smooth enough to start the fiberglassing.  Where I could reach the fillets, I did a pretty good job. Where I had to reach over in all different positions, they were rough.

Starboard side fillets about 80% ready.

Port side fillets ready 95% ready for glass.

I didn't note the fillets 100%, because I still want to review them and possibly do some more sanding. Make sure  there are not any rough spots that I may have missed.

I did a pretty good job on the stern of the boat. Below is a view of bulkhead 8 to the transom. I also started to make a pattern to cut the glass.

The sanding is going slow, but I am being patient and working on it until I am completed and have it the ready for the glass. 

Sanding Fillets!

I started to sand the rest of the fillets last night for 1.5 hours and will probably need a few sessions, I thought I did a good job on the fillets, but after further / closer inspection, they need a lot of work. The good thing is the chine fillets and others that I will see in the cabin area are pretty good. It's the larger fillets in the keelson / bilge area that need the most work. After the fact, I now think about some of the larger putty knives I have for drywall work. They would have helped to smooth out the large/wide fillets. I still may opt to use them and do another fillet layer, but the problem areas will be unseen. They just need to be smooth for the fiberglass.

On vacation in Beaufort NC - updated with video sailing

I will be back to building next weekend. I have been on vacation for the last week and doing a little sailing in Beaufort NC. I will post some video once I return. They do have a boat building class at the waterfront museum going on here that I may plan on taking in the future.

Here is a video of the fun we had sailing.

https://youtu.be/SYwvVMZZA1Q

Tools to Fight the Misery of Sanding Fillets!

Well, I think I have the tools now to fight the fillets. They really are not as bad as I thought, but as the manual states, you will still need to smooth things outs. I picked up a Dremel 3000 from Home Depot and a sander from Harbor Freight.

Sander from Harbor Freight

Dremel 3000

I used the Dremel tool today on the bow section and it worked great to get the rough spots as well as the hard to reach places. I liked the ability to use the variable speeds, but you need to be careful. It will remove epoxy quickly! It came with a lot of attachments that I can see that will be beneficial on building the boat.

Bow section ready to fiberglass. I used all of my sanding tools to get it ready.
Orbital Sander,  Dremel, Harbor Freight, and homemade tools. 

I also made some homemade sanding tools out of some pipe insulation. It is flexible and I use the rolled sanding paper that sticks to it. It has the same round shape as the fillets and it can conform too the different shapes.

pipe insulation to use as sanding tool

Also good to cut in half

Box of different sanding tools and shapes to sand all the different boat shapes.
The piece that has a handle is a sponge brush that I put a piece of sanding paper on. 

Hours of Misery!

On page 74 of the manual, John states about your fillet job. "If you weren't neat with your epoxy fillets, you're facing hours of this misery". Well I may be facing hours of misery with some of my work. I went to sand the bow section and it is definitely going to be a job. For one it is difficult to reach in that area and the fillets are sort of rough. I went out yesterday and bought a Dremel tool, so I am hoping that that will help. I will post how it does.

Today I decided to fillet some of the bulkheads where they contacted the bottom panels. I thought they were a little on the small size to what they should be. I also redid the fillet on the chine section on the port side. I wanted it again to be larger as well as to cover up some rough areas.

Below are some pictures.

Port side chine redone. 

Enlarging some of the floor fillets. 

Enlarging fillets on bulkhead #8.