Day 11...
Today I finished grinding. Got a late start, as today was laundry day... ran out of clothes. Slept in till 10:00, and awoke to a phone call... it was all I could do to get my hands to answer it.
I don't like bonding stuff to dry polyester resin and clumps of mat... so I took it down till almost all the pits were gone in the original roving of the hull. Then I laid an 8 inch wide strip of 1708 over the path just in the event I lost any strength... The port side was especially flaky, with lots of air pockets... So I want to grab hold of hull!
I put down two layers of fiberglass on each side of the starboard bulkhead. Each side on the hull got a 4 inch wide tab 8 inch swath of glass and an 6 inch tab which means a 12 inch wide strip. I had cut a 16 inch wide thinking about overkilling, but I got to thinking that the original tabbing was roving and mat of the dimensions I laid down... and I replaced it with epoxy and biax, even I at times find overkill for the sake of overkill to get over the top. Write down the date, I said it...
The deck has a double layer of 6 inch wide tabbing. I replicated the original installation and didn't put a fillet on it, as it makes sense that the beam ought to tuck up extra tight to the bulkhead without having a 2 inch radius missing from its backside.
Speaking of backsides... I've worked my ass off, literally... pants don't fit anymore. Had to drill a new hole for my belt!
I picked up two quarts of fast hardener the other day for doing the tabbing, as I had dreamed up getting the starboard locked in place... then in close succession doing the port, not wanting to wait dfor the slow stuff to set up... This was a mistake, as I mis-cut one tabs dart (had to cut a dart to get it to conform over the new stringer tube...) and didn't have enough time to correct it before the pot started smoking.
The aft side was a piece of cake to lay up, the forward side fought me a bit... melted two pots (one of them in half...) when I wet out 12 ounces of a 16 ounce pot. I should have mixed a few smaller batches... but having just done the aft side without a hitch, I was feeling ballsy...
With that done, it was dinner time. I've been going to Hardees for dinner most nights out of this saga... as its right around the corner from the boat yard. 12 minutes, and 5 bucks later I'm refueled...
I got back, and laid up the 8 inch wide strip on the port side, and positioned my PVC tube. I didn't grind back the paint quite far enough on the forward side to glass over it... So I called it quits and will check my bulkhead template to make sure everything fits. (Per my measuring it ought to... but boats aren't symmetrical!)
About it for now...
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