Interior primed

This weekend a few days of good weather gave me an opportunity to get the interior of the boat primed. I trailered the boat to my brother's house on Sunday where we hooked up his compressor. We sprayed on two coats of the water based epoxy primer. I left the boat there until Tuesday to allow it to thoroughly dry before bringing it home. I also allowed it to sit today to give the epoxy more time to cure as the temperatures have been cool this week. Tomorrow I start sanding the primer, this will be (hopefully) the last major sanding job on the hull before it is launched. The photos give an idea of the boats final appearance as the primer color is very similar to the color of the finish coat.

On Solid Ground

On Monday night Tropical Ida came through, The building shelter did not survive. The frame stayed in place but the poly tarp panels were shredded and tattered. On Friday I disassembled the tent. The open area gave me my first opportunity to photograph the boat from the side. Later that evening my brother helped me move the boat underneath the carport where I will finish it. While he was here we taped off an area under the rub rail for the sheer stripe which I painted this weekend. I thought that would be the final task before flipping the hull to paint the inside, but the paint on the transom was damaged in the storm by a flapping tent panel and will be repaired this week.

Top Coat on

This past week I finished the graphite coat, applying a coat Mon., Tues. and Wed. afternoons. Wednesday night after the last coat had time to stiffen I removed the masking and tape. I allowed it to cure Thursday and sanded the edges on Friday. I then washed and dried the hull, wiped it with denatured alcohol and began taping and masking again. That afternoon I rolled on the first coat of paint, Petit Easypoxy Pearl Gray. I applied the second and third coats yesterday and today. I began painting at noon to give dew in the tent time to evaporate. I am going to let the paint harden for a few days then mask the boat so that I paint the sheer stripe below the rub rail.

Last round of sanding

Finally, the outer hull has been sanded for the last time. This weekend I sanded the primer that was applied last week. I spent 2 days sanding the boat by hand. This morning I washed the boat with dish soap, towel dried it and gave it wipe down with denatured alcohol. I then began taping a line that I hope will be near the waterline for the graphite epoxy mixture that I am applying to the bottom. Three more layers of tape were applied over the first layer, each one staggered by 1/4" so that each coat will extend past the previous. By doing this I hope to avoid having a high ridge of epoxy to sand down before painting. A layer of plastic was then taped to the boat to keep stray drops and runs of black epoxy off of the sides of the hull. I took a break for dinner and rolled on the first coat, finishing at sunset. In a few hours I will go out and remove the first tape layer before the epoxy completely hardens.

Primed at Last

After my last update 2 weeks ago we had two wet weeks of weather which made the inside of the tent very mucky (just like the early spring). Last weekend our first strong cold front came through and we had 25 -30 knot north winds for 2 days. This wind proved to be too much for the tent roof so Sunday I covered the tent with a large tarp to cover the gaps. I was also able to sand the epoxy coats that I applied the previous weekend. Yesterday I was planning to wash the sanding dust off of the hull and begin priming but a problem with the water main forced the city to shut our water from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. I washed the hull in the afternoon but did not have time to do any painting. This morning I gave the hull a quick wipe down with denatured alcohol and waited for the tent to warm up as morning temps were in the mid 50's. By noon the temperature in the tent was approaching 80 so I rolled on the first coat. by 3:30 it was no longer tacky so I applied the second coat. Tomorrow after the tent warms up I will apply the third and final coat. I am going to give the primer a few days to cure completely then begin sanding in prep for the top coat.

Fairing complete

I spent all of last week sanding the fairing putty I slathered on last weekend. Today I completed this round of sanding and rolled a seal coat of epoxy on shortly before taking this photo. A few hours later I rolled on a second coat. Tomorrow I will start sanding again, but it should go quicker as I only have to scuff the surface to give the primer something to grip.

Since my last update not much has happened. I had the inside of the boat ready to prime but a heavy love-bug hatch postponed painting. A rainy September also slowed work down. A few weeks ago I flipped the over again to begin fairing the bottom for paint. Today I completely covered the hull with a coat of fairing putty (as seen above) and started the sanding process. Before I spread the putty over the hull I filled the fiberglass weave over the keel and bilge runners with a mixture of cabosil and West fillet blend. This makes a tougher (and tougher to sand) covering for the parts of the bottom likely to take the most abuse.

More Sanding

Tonight I did a test fit of two of the floor board sections and started sanding last weekends epoxy coats. this picture was taken just after I started. I completed all three seats and the starboard rubrail before calling it a night.

Slow but Steady (Part II)

Some of you may be thinking that while all these coats of epoxy are curing, I am sitting in the air conditioning drinking beer. This is not so. The inside of the boat gets three set of floor boards. These provide a flat surface to stand or walk on and also keep your feet dry should a small amount of water get in the boat. I work on the floor boards when the boat has a wet coat of epoxy or when structural pieces have been attached and I am waiting for the glue to set up. The third photo shows a group of planks lined up on a table. These are the planks for the forward set of floorboards that have just been given a thin coat of epoxy. The next night they were flipped over and the other side was coated. Over the next four successive nights two more groups of planks were given the same treatment. In all they are 32 planks of varying lengths that will make up the floor boards. The planks are 4" wide x 5/8" thick cypress. The forward set (not shown) was glued together last Sunday. This Saturday the middle section (first photo) was glued up and the screws were removed this morning. This afternoon the aft section, (second photo) which is also the largest section, was glued together. Shortly before taking the picture all of the screws were loosened 1-1 1/2 turns to make sure the epoxy did not bond to them. After they have been trimmed to fit the curve of the hull any areas of bare wood will be covered with epoxy and they too will be sanded down to be primed and painted.

Slow but Steady

It has been awhile since my last update, a bad USB cable made it impossible to download photos for a week. Work continues trying to get the interior of the boat ready for primer. The first photo shows thickened epoxy in the rubrail holes. Before filling them I cleaned each one out with the drill as some of the holes had wasp nest in them. In fact one crawled into a hole while I was drilling so it got drilled also. The second photo shows all the seats after they were glues and all the masking had been removed. Last weekend I sanded the out-wale, in-wale and all the spaces between the two and coated them with two coats of epoxy. Last week after work I caught up on some yard work and did not work on the boat any. Friday and Saturday were spent sanding the hull. I finished sanding the fairing compound on the inside and sanded some runs from when the gun-wales were clear coated. I also sanded all the thwarts, first with 80 then 150 and finally with 220 grit sand paper. Last night I rolled a coat of epoxy over the hull and seats. This morning a few bugs were sanded out of the first coat and a second coat was rolled on. After the second coat was tack free I rolled a third coat on the hull only. The seats had out-gassed while the second coat was curing so they were left alone. In the third photo some of the bubbles are visible, they are the smaller white flecks around the large white spot in the photo. That is the center seat which bubbled the worse, the other two have only a few bubbles. The boat will be allowed to cure for a full day and then it will be given a final sanding to prepare it for primer. The seats will also be sanded to smooth out the bubbles, and then they will be given another coat of epoxy.

First Seat Installed

I took a few days off last week to work on the boat with the intention of getting the remaining wood pieces glued to the boat. On Tuesday I sanded the aft section of the the boat to remove any epoxy runs and applied a layer of fairing compound. I began sanding the fairing material Tuesday night and finished Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday evening I sanded the forward section of the boat and applied fairing compound to it. Thursday was spent sanding the forawd section smooth. In each case the most time consuming part was the frames as the R. O. sander would not fit inside the frames. Each side of each frame was taking 5-6 hours of hand sanding to get the frames some what fair. Each frame had to be faired before the seats were installed as they would be really difficult to access otherwise. On Friday the two remaining areas of the the boat (btween the forward and aft frames) was sanded. I decided to wait until after dark to apply the fairing compound (System Three Quick Fair) in the hope that the slightly cooler temperature would give me a few more minutes to work the fairing compound before it stiffened. This plan did not work as june bugs (a type of beetle) began to land in the first batch. I quit for the night and began the fairing process the next morning. On Saturday morning before I could add any more fairing compound I had to remove six beetles that had become trapped in the hardened Quick Fair. After applying the Quick Fair to to remaining areas of the boats interior. I began dry fitting the floorboards for the area in front of the forward frame. I also cut all the boards for the remaining sections of floorboards. On Saturday Evening I sanded the open areas of the boats midsection and began sanding one of the frames finishing half of one side before calling it a night. Sunday morning I faced the task of sanding the remaining frames was was bbecoming disheartened. I finally decided to go to the local Home Depot where I purcased the smallest mouse sander they had in stock and packages of 80 grit sanding pads for it. With the mouse sander I was able to sand each frame in 30 to 40 minutes. I finished the sanding Sunday afternoon and swept and vacuumed the hull. I rolled a thin coat of epoxy of the face of each frame to seal the fairing compound and then I glued the transom knees and breast hook to the boat. (2nd - 4th photos). The pinkish-white patches in the photas are what remains of the fairing material after sanding. This evening I masked the frames with cut up trash bags to catch any glue drips and glued the aft thwart (seat) to the top of the frame. Tomorrow I will glue the forward seat. The center seat will be installed after UPS delivers some more glue.

Inwales complete

This Saturday my brother and I glued the the inwales to the spacer blocks (third photo). This morning I trimmed the bow and stern ends so the breast hook and transom knees fit, after I epoxy coated the wood for the seats. While I was waiting on the epoxy to cure I marked and drilled 65 1/4" holes in the outer rub rails (first photo). These will be filled with thickened epoxy and re drilled for #8 screws to mount a protective rub rail (5/8" rope). I took a break for dinner and then glued up the fore and aft seats. The center seat will be glued together tomorrow as I ran out of clamps that were large enough. I then returned to the tent and sanded the outwale and inwale. While I was sanding I noticed that a small wasp was already building a nest in one of the holes a had just drill in the outwale. I removed the nesting material with a drill bit but I have a feeling that she will be back. When this was complete I removed all of the stuff that had accumulated in the boat and swept up the sanding dust.

Fitting the inwales

This past weekend I epoxy coated the inwales and dry fit them to the boat with wood screws. As none of my C-clamps were large enough to span the width of the outwale, inwale and spacer blocks I purchased two 12" ratcheting bar clamps from Harbor Freight. I also glued the cleats for the breast hook and transom knees to the boat. On Monday evening I began to cut and sand the mahogany planks for the thwarts (shown on the small table). Also on the table with the thwarts are the breast hook and transom knees. These items will not be installed until I have faired the frames, inner bow and lower transom as they will make access to these areas of the interior more difficult. These items along with the inwales are the last pieces of wood that will be permanently attached to the boat. As some of the pictures show, lately I've taken to using the boat as a storage area for tools, clamps, glueing weights etc. I began removing some of these items tonight and will remove the rest of them before beginning the fairing process. I also removed the inwales and trimmed the ends to fit under the breasthook and transom knees.

Sweating the small stuff

This past Wednesday My brother and I glued up the starboard rub rail. Thursday and Friday were spent sanding the rub rail and the top strake of the hull even (there were a few high spots). On Saturday I starting on the spacers between the out-wale and in-wale. I cut these shortly after I picked up the cypress lumber, but they have been stored in a bucket for a few months. I made a template from some scrap plywood and drilled two 1/4" holes in each block in which short dowels were glued when the blocks were epoxy coated. The template was then used to drill the top strake at each block location on the hull. I was able to get ten of the blocks glued to the boat yesterday and finished the remaining blocks this morning, along with a short piece of wood in the bow that will serve as a backing plate for the bow eye. Yesterday I also glued up the mahogany for the wooden blocks into which the oarlock sockets will mount. There are four of these blocks. Each one is made up of three pieces of wood 6"x1"x1 1/4". Today, after I completed the blocks I started cleaning up the excess glue that I wasn't able to scrape off yesterday and cut the corners off the top edge of the blocks . When I sanded the excess glue off the blocks I also removed most of the first coat of epoxy, so they were re-coated this afternoon. The oarlock blocks will be glued to the tomorrow so I can begin work on the in-wales.

Since my last update I spent a week in the Florida Panhandle tarpon fishing. When I returned I began working on the boat again. On Monday I removed the rubrails and clear coated them with epoxy. On Tueday I completed the fillets on the frames. Wednesday and Thursday were spent sanding the roughspots on the fillets and Thursday night I fiberglassed the frames to the hull with two layers of fiberglass tape. O n Friday and Saturday I cut the wood for cleats to glue the seat tops to and also cut and fit the floors to the hull bottom. These floors will be supports for the floorboards. The cleats and and floors were epoxy coated on Saturday night. This morning I sanded the tops of the frames, the bottom of the hull where the floors were installed and vacuumed the dust out of the boat. Shortly after I finished vacuuming my brother arrived to assist. We were albe to get most of the floors, all of the cleats and the port rubrail glued. We had time to do the second rubrail and the rest of the floors but I ran out of C-clamps and weights. Tomorrow I will remove all of the clamps and glue the remaining floors. On Wednesday evening my brother will help me with the other rubrail.

Slow Down

Progress on the boat has slowed the past two weeks due to unusually hot weather. Since the last blog entry I have glued the frames in place but I have not completed the fillets or glass because the epoxy was kicking off too quickly in the heat, even when working at night.Yesterday and today I dry fit the rubrails and clamped them in place. I will leave them clamped in place for a week before glueing them to allow them to assume the shape of the sheer. While they are doing this I will be in Florida fishing for tarpon. Tomorrow will be spent picking up a few last minute items and prepping the boat for the 6 hour haul. If there is time I may try to complete a few more fillets on the frames, The tubs of EZ fillet were placed in the fridge today to extend the potlife of the mixture.

Frames laminated

This morning I glued the two layers of each frame and the four layers on the transom knee together with thickened epoxy. The layers are weighed down with water jugs and lead weights. Small wooden blocks are screwed to the table to keep the pieces in alignment. the blocks are covered with packing tape to prevent them from bonding to the plywood. After the glue sets up the squeeze out will be trimmed and the frames will be covered with a layer of fiberglass cloth.

Interior work continues

This week I continued working on the interior hull. Monday and Wednesday evenings were spent sanding down some highspots on the fillets I made last week. On Thursday night I fiberglassed the transom and the tip of the bow. On Friday I began glassing the main part of the hull. The glass was cut to length and the top edge was held in place with binder clips. The glass was then trimmed off at the bow and stern and a relief cut was made at the midpoint of the hull. Working alone this was a large job. I began wetting out the cloth at noon and finished at 4:00 pm. The temperature in the tent was 96 F at 2:00 pm. I was spent after that 4 hour ordeal. This morning I trimmed the excess glass from the top edge and sanded out a few bubbles I was unable to work out of the cloth yesterday. My brother came over as I finished sanding and we measured and trimmed the glass for the other side of the hull. With two of us working wetting out the glass was much easier. We finished the port side in just over an hour. The rest of today was spent cutting out the frames that will support the seat tops. I also cut out the pieces that will make up the stern knee. The frames will be made of two layers of 6 mm plywood glued together and the stern knee will be four layers. The frame layers were clamped together with binder clips and the edges were trimmed up with a block plane and sanding block. After sunset the plywood pieces were coated with epoxy in preparation for glueing tomorrow.