From Sweatshirts to Shorts

March 17-18, 2012
We are really having some crazy weather around here. Last weekend I was working on the boat with long sleeves and sweatshirts and this weekend it was a tshirt and shorts. But I am not complaining though I didn't think that I could possibly be fiberglassing this early in the year. But never mind that right now I had work to do...

I spent Saturday on cutting all of the bulkhead pieces. So now as far as the Stringers and Bulkheads are concerned they are now cut.

I made a run also on Saturday and got the following supplies:
-Chalk Line
-6 small tubes of PL Glue
-Caulk gun
-Stainless Steel screws (I bought them out of what they had...should at least get me started)
I am still trying to find 3M 5200 and a 5 gallon pail dispenser pump.

Sunday I mapped out my plan of where all of the stringers and bulkheads are going to go and traced it out with a sharpie...

Then I glued in the foam spacers that will keep the wood from coming in direct contact with the hull.

After I was finished with that I started to cut the stringers down to the size that they will be for the deck to lay on them. I cut them larger just as a precautionary measure.

Here is the list of things to do in the immediate future:
-Finish cutting the plywood to size
-Sand the plywood
-Apply a coating of resin to the wood
-PL Glue the pieces into the boat

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Vacation

We went on vacation last week to Colorado and Utah via Kansas and Missouri. We saw 7 states in 9 days, took off on Thursday July 3 around 2 in the afternoon and headed west. Our first stop was in Topeka, Kansas where we spent the night. The next morning we got up and left after a good breakfast. Around 3 in the afternoon we got our first sight of the mountain and it was Pike's Peak over looking Colorado Springs, Co. That is where we spent the next 3 nights and the sights that we saw were Pike's Peak, Seven Falls, Garden of the Gods, and Manitou Springs. So we spent Friday, Saturday , and Sunday nights there. On Monday we took off for Cortez, Co. That is close to Mesa Verde. On the way there we were able to take in some good places like the Continental Divide and Treasure Falls. Once we got there we packed it up for the evening. The next day Tuesday brought us to Mesa Verde. There we spent the day looking at the ruins of the ancient Puebloan people who built the famous cli...

Glued...

April 1, 2012 The Stringers and Bulkheads are now glued into the boat. It has been a long day. We (my brother in law, Jack came over to help) started the day by bracing the center stringer that comes out from under the bow section. Onc e that was done we mixed up our first batch of "Peanut Butter". We started with 1 cup of resin and the right amount of hardener, then about 3 pinches of 1/4 inch Chopped Strand Mat and then Cabosil to thicken up the mixture to the consistency of "Peanut Butter". It worked out pretty well. While that was hardening we went to work on scuffing the resin that was spread on the stringers and bulkheads. We wanted to sand those before putting them into the boat. That took about an hour so then it was lunch time. We noticed that the thickened resin we made was still pretty soft so we moved the boat out into the sunlight while we ate lunch. Sure enough when we came back out the resin had kicked and was already pretty solid. We...

Deck Gel Coated...

May 25, 2012 I took this day off of work to work on the boat. I wanted to get the deck ready to be Gel Coated which was ordered and received. First I gave the deck a good sanding. It had been a while since we fiberglassed so I wanted to make sure that the surface was ready to receive the Gel Coat. After I was finished with the sanding I moved the boat outside for a good cleaning. Using an air compressor (Thanks Jack) I blew off the deck and then gave it a good acetone wash. That pretty much took up the entire day. I had to wash the van because it got covered with dust. Sorry no pictures of the progress today. May 26, 2012 The deck is now Gel Coated. The four person team of Jack, Sally, Nina and myself worked for a long time again to get this job accomplished. We took the pigment for a gallon and added it directly to the container and then took turns shaking the can to thoroughly mix the color. I believe that it looks great!...

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