Not a whole lot of progress this last weekend. Just a few hours on Saturday then less than an hour Sunday afternoon. But it was enough time to finish glassing the bottom of the two end sections. Looking good! For some reason, I feel a major milestone has been passed now.
I used less epoxy on the end sections than I anticipated. One thing that made a big difference was that I used a different squeegee; one with a rubber piece on it. The last one I had used was just a soft plastic. I also tried the squeegee on the 2nd and 3rd coats of epoxy as well. Worked pretty nice for the flat bottom. Using thinner coats of epoxy got me a lot more print through of the weave (see picture), but it all scrapes down smooth without cutting into the glass, so it must be just enough. All in all, the total epoxy used for both end sections was exactly what it took to just do the middle section; five 5 oz dixie cups full.
Other than that I was able to take the scraper (just using a utility knife blade) to the middle section. All's nice and fair and smooth now! As I was scraping I realized that I may have put the 2nd and 3rd coats on a bit thick. I'll save the final sanding until just prior to painting.
Oh yeah, and I was able to finish getting everything ready to glue up my hollow box beam iakos. All the station blocks are screwed in place for clamping it into it's curved shape. All the wood is cut and just sitting, waiting to be glued.
Next step is getting my solid wood stub mast ready, including the mast step and collar. After that, I think I'll be ready to start prepping the hull for painting!
I used less epoxy on the end sections than I anticipated. One thing that made a big difference was that I used a different squeegee; one with a rubber piece on it. The last one I had used was just a soft plastic. I also tried the squeegee on the 2nd and 3rd coats of epoxy as well. Worked pretty nice for the flat bottom. Using thinner coats of epoxy got me a lot more print through of the weave (see picture), but it all scrapes down smooth without cutting into the glass, so it must be just enough. All in all, the total epoxy used for both end sections was exactly what it took to just do the middle section; five 5 oz dixie cups full.
Other than that I was able to take the scraper (just using a utility knife blade) to the middle section. All's nice and fair and smooth now! As I was scraping I realized that I may have put the 2nd and 3rd coats on a bit thick. I'll save the final sanding until just prior to painting.
Oh yeah, and I was able to finish getting everything ready to glue up my hollow box beam iakos. All the station blocks are screwed in place for clamping it into it's curved shape. All the wood is cut and just sitting, waiting to be glued.
Next step is getting my solid wood stub mast ready, including the mast step and collar. After that, I think I'll be ready to start prepping the hull for painting!
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