Companion Way, Rudder and More Glass

Rudder

I have been working a couple of things in parallel as time and weather permitted. Below I am finishing up gluing the cheeks to the rudder. These are to provide more strength were the tiller is inserted. I finished up sanding them with my belt sander and I need to go purchase a chamfering bit for my router to clean up the edges.

As you can see, I am using work lights to help the epoxy cure. I left them on for 24 hours and then moved them into the house to cure for a week.

Companion Way

With the companionway I had some issues. Below is the smaller slide and I just used the patterns to cut them out.  This part was pretty easy and no issues. I used some bronze screws to screw the ends together. I used a counter sink and will need to plug them when I epoxy them up. 

Below is where i screwed the plastic slides onto the slide. This will allow the slide to move along the groves cut in the hood. I used a counter sink bit and bronze screws. I still need to shape the piece so the top will fit and epoxy everything into place.

 Below is a picture showing the plastic black slides in the groves on the hood.

Problem: Now here is where the problem came about. The front hood template that comes with the kit measures 28 -3/4" wide.   The manual states that the width of the entire hood needs to be 30 -5/8"

So I used the pattern to cut the front of the hood. After dry fitting the slide into the hood, the math just didn't add up and it was too narrow!

Now the hood width should be 30-5/8". If  you subtract the 1.5" of the to side hood pieces, you get 29-1/8". So the front template is 3/8" too short. 

So for whatever reason I made the entire piece wider and when I cut off the piece with the template, I kept it. So to fix it, I just glued it back on. You can see it below curing. I then cut it to the proper width. I will be painting the hood, so you won't be able to see it. 

To cut out the piece I used my bandsaw and set the table on it to the angle.

Fiber glassing

The weather was nice today, so I took the opportunity to apply some fiberglass on the front bow sections. Both port and starboard. It is hard to see it, but I also installed another piece where the cabin deck meets bulkhead 2. This is to provide extra support for the tabernacle.

Here is the port side all wetted out. When I did the other cabin glass, I had epoxy all over the place. I applied it using a brush and was able to get it done, but it was not easy.

Tip: To apply epoxy on vertical pieces, use a roller. To get epoxy on the roller, I used a small paint tray I purchased. I mixed the epoxy and poured it into the tray and then was able to get some on the roller, roll off the excess and then apply to the glass. This worked very good for me!