Merry Christmas, Backer Board and Sanding!

Merry Christmas to everyone. No boat building today, but while I am waiting for my son to arrive, I thought I would post. The Holidays have been busy and I have had limited time to work, but I still manage to do a task here and there.

A couple weekends ago, I bought a piece of Oak from Home Depot. I wanted to cut a piece to act as a backer board to support the removable tabernacle. From viewing the forum, John Harris recommends a 10" by 13" backer board. It took me a while to cut out using the bandsaw. I then had to setup the router table again to cut the 1/4 inch round-over. I then sanded smooth and have already put a coat of epoxy on it. I am trying to determine how I am going to mount it. Whether to permanently or just bolt on?

Backer board for removable tabernacle.

Last weekend we had a nice day in the upper 60's, so I pushed the boat out into the driveway and started to sand and sand and yes more sanding. I actually had a couple of session earlier in the garage. I was getting the boat read for fiberglassing. 

I also spent some time filling in all the holes and gaps. This took a couple of attempts. The lighting in the garage is ok, but working mostly after work it is hard to see. Having the boat out in the sunlight I was able to see everything very well.

The boat ready for glassing. Notice my cradle setup with furniture dollies. It makes it easy to move the boat in and out of the garage. 

I also spent some time on the transom skirt.  I had to use a plane and a bunch of sanding to get the shape to look right. I am pleased with the way it turned out.

After a bunch of filling holes and sanding, I was ready to start fiberglassing. With the temperatures still very cold, I have to use the work lights to help with curing the epoxy. Below you can see the port side cabin deck where I installed fiberglass and did the first filler coat. The top horizontal part was easy. It was a little bit of a challenge to do the vertical parts.  I finally wound up using a brush to get the epoxy on the glass and then a a brush and roller to get it spread out. I think I will do some research on methods to applying epoxy to vertical pieces before attempting any more.