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Fairing

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It at least looks like a boat.

Date

Event

Time Used

$$$

14-Mar-01 Work on fairing the deck to the sides with a surform plane.

.5

 
17-Mar-01 Another trip out to Welbeck Sawmill for bits and pieces.  Barrel bolts for the rudder, a couple of rope loops, a new blade for my surform plane, and a bow eye and a threaded insert for it.  The plans call for using a cabinet door handle for the bow eye, but since I'm planning on Jeep-topping, I wanted something beefier.  My plan is to install the insert in the bow with epoxy and then screw the eye into it.   This should be stronger than just something screwed in.

 

14.31
18-Mar-01 Work on fairing the hull to the sides with a surform plane.  Also knock off the epoxy drips etc that had accumulated.

.5

 
22-Mar-01 Pick up boom and spar from Metal Supemarkets

 

86.85
23-Mar-01 Sanding.

.5

 
24-Mar-01
Filling Form
Filling Form
Fill screw holes and groove between hull panels.  Scrape out the groove first to allow for filling.  Use stapled popsicle sticks to make a form to hold the thickened epoxy up on the corners of the hull at the transom where material had been gouged away.  I'll remove and sand them off when the epoxy sets up.

1.5

 
27-Mar-01 Pick up some small brass plates to use to join the tiller to the rudder at Home Depot.

 

3.35
28-Mar-01 While at a trade show in Toronto, track down Noah's Marine and pick up some supplies.  I also picked up a copy of Phil Bolger's book 103 Sailing Rigs

 

 
50 yard roll of 3" fiberglass tape   46.00
1 Quart MicroBalloons   7.76
30-Mar-01 Fill edges and gouges with epoxy thickened with microballoons and fairing filler.

1

 
31-Mar-01 Sanding and pick up a bolt to use as a rudder pivot at Welbeck Sawmill

1.5

.31
1-Apr-01
More Popsicle Sticks
More Popsicle Sticks
Put in place fiberglass tape on the hull/side joins, as well as along the centre line of the boat from the bow to over the daggerboard slot.  Use staples through popsicle sticks to hold everything in place.  I plan to remove these when the first coat of epoxy sets up.

.75

 
6-Apr-01 - Lunch My first adventure with coating "string and snot" during an extra-long lunch.  Some things I learned - don't rely on a brush for wetting out.  It will pull up the tape from the boat and will also shred the ends of the tape.  Fortunately, I figured this out fairly quickly and switched to a plastic squeege except where the tape was up-side-down (transom).  The squeege also worked well to scrape up drips, or where the epoxy had gotten thick under the tape.  The popsicle sticks worked just fine and I removed them as I worked along.  The epoxy seemed to hold the tape in place once it wetted out, then I could also wet out where the sticks were.
A hint that I heard from someone was to use stips of plastic from a milk jug etc rather than popsicle sticks.  This would be good for a larger piece as you could leave them in until the the epoxy was almost dry as the epoxy won't stick to the plastic.

1.75

 
6-Apr-01 - p.m. Use epoxy thickened with MicroBalloons to fill the weave in the tape and to feather the edges.  I only did the hull bottom as I was worried about sags.

.75

 
7-Apr-01
Ain't she purty
Ain't she purty
a.m. - Start out to sand the tape, but switch to using a dull surform plane to get the microbaloons sanded mostly fair. The sanding did not work well mostly because of the fact that the epoxy/microballoons mix was still somewhat tacky. Then apply the first coat of epoxy to the entire hull.
p.m. - Add the second coat of epoxy. - done the second gallon of resin.  Add the third coat before bed.

2.25

 
8-Apr-01 Flip the boat over and use my dull surform plane to knock off the drips etc.  Spend some time cleaning tools to get ready to start filling holes in the deck.

.50

 
11-Apr-01 Another trip out to Welbeck Sawmill for fairing filler.

 

18.96
13-Apr-01 Fill screw holes and gaps with thickened epoxy.  Mix in sawdust into some epoxy as a test to fill a large gap where the aft port deck meets the side.  I made sure that it was below the finish level, then filled with regular fairing filler thickened epoxy.

1

 
14-Apr-01 Sanding and filling.   Filling and sanding.  Actually I used a surform plane with a dull blade for the sanding - much faster at taking off the high spots.
Pick up two more rollers at Pro Hardware

1

4.80
15-Apr-01 Sand some more.  Put on fiberglass tape - using popsicle sticks again to hold it it place.  Also put tape around part of the cockpit opening.  The tape didn't easily conform to the curve on the aft end of the cockpit so I didn't tape it.  Taping the forward part was a bit of over-kill anyway probably, but I was worried about the extra blocks I had added delaminating.

2

 
16-Apr-01 Fill weave of fiberglass with thickened epoxy.

1.25

 
18-Apr-01 Use my dull surform plane and a palm sander to sand.

1

 
20-Apr-01 First coat of epoxy on deck and sides.

0.5

 
21-Apr-01 Second coat of epoxy on deck and sides, and with the help of my son Trueman (6) and daughter Emma (8), apply the third coat and tip off - Kids doing the tipping off on the sides.

1

 
22-Apr-01 Add a fourth thin coat of epoxy to the deck and sides.  There were some spots where I could still feel the grain of the wood.

.5

 
23-Apr-01
Bow Eye
Bow Eye Installation
Drill a hole in the bow for the bow eye insert.  Screw in the insert, fill the hole with unthickened epoxy and then insert the bolt.  While the epoxy set up, I'll loosen and tighten the bolt to keep the epoxy from sticking to it.

.25

 
24-Apr-01 Make a trip out to Canadian Tire for some more supplies - 2 paint rollers and some carpet tape for the sail.
Also, add a strip of fiberglass tape along the bow over the bow eye for strength.   The wood had cracked here during installing the hull and was showing around the bow eye.

.5

17.22
25-Apr-01 Pop out to Welbeck Sawmill for inserts and eyes for the aft end.  I decided to use these rather than the handles the plan calls for because of the superior strenght I should get.  For lifiting, I can use a short length of line.   Try to remember to take my wallet next time <g>.
Install the aft bow eyes and work on fairing the bow tape added on the 24th.  Later in the day fill screw holes and fillet in part of the cockpit.

1.5

2.28
27-Apr-01 Sand the inside of the cockpit and finish filleting.

2

 
28-Apr-01 Pick up hardware at Welbeck Sawmill and Canadian Tire for running rigging and paint.  Also, more gloves (latex - I haven't liked them - I preferred the vinyl) and rollers to finish the epoxy work in the cockpit.  Apply the first coat of epoxy to the inside of the cockpit.

.5

 
Latex gloves and rollers.   12.97
Running rigging - blocks etc to attach them.   38.23
Paint - 1 Gallon Yellow, 2 Quarts Green.   72.75
29-Apr-01 Apply second coat of epoxy to the inside of the cockpit.

.5

 
1-May-01 - 4-May-01 Use a surform to remove high spots and drips in the epoxy.

1

 

Home Model Building Lofting and Cutting Initial Assembly Sealing Deck Fairing Finishing MiniCup Costs

DISCLAIMER: Because the construction of any boat is dependent on factors of materials and craftsmanship that are beyond my control, I can accept no responsibility for any item constructed based on information found on this web-site.

For more information, contact andrew@floatingbear.ca Last Updated October 31, 2005