Light Work…..
by Jake on Feb.14, 2006, under Composite Works
Being Valentine’s Day and all, Bonnie and I went out for an incredible sushi dinner. Dinner and the conversation were great and in yet another fine example of the incredible woman I’ve snared, she was fine with me sneaking away for a few minutes to get another task knocked off the boat work list between dinner and settling in front of the wide screen. So I built a long board for the hull fairing to come. These things are ridiculously expensive in the store but a quick trip to the scrap bin, a trip to Lowe’s for a roll of sticky back sandpaper, and a few minutes on the drill press yielded everything I needed. The comments on the pictures hosted at flikr will give a little more detail but it’s as simple as a somewhat flexible sanding board that will allow for the natural contour in the bottom of the hull but not the dents and dings or molding issues that are inherited with any fiberglass boat that’s been utilized.
Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.
February 14th, 2006 on 11:15 PM
Damn cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you and Bonnie had a great Valentine’s Day. Might be a truck weekend depending on weather!!
Best to you both,
David
February 15th, 2006 on 1:05 PM
Jake-
Looks sweet. I like the tape technique to squeeze out the extra epoxy, but I can certainly believe it would be messy. Did you use the glass with epoxy, then the microballons? I used them to repair my boat and worked well but was difficult to get rid of the color in the end (used, 98 cent spray paint… worked like a charm
When you fair the hull- do you just do the bottoms? I would figure that is the case… but how much do you take off? All of the gelcoat? Then re-apply gelcoat?
Gelcoat work scares me
I would like to do more work on my boat- but a 6 mo old doesn’t allow much of that.
It is great that you publish this stuff… really helps people with less expertise.
Thanks
pp
February 15th, 2006 on 3:42 PM
PTP,
The glass layups are done with straight epoxy. I use microballoons in the top coat after sanding the work to shape. The epoxy is a little off-white (and would seriously turn yellow with UV exposure) but I intend to fully paint the rudders with a 2part paint after they’re shaped properly..
I’ve not yet done any extensive gelcoat work like what I’m getting ready to dive into so it will be a bit of a learning experience on my end too. The biggest hurdle is that the boat is blue…and I’m trying to figure out the best way to match the gel coat. The fairing will be just to the bottom of the hull and I’m only sanding enough to give the new gel coat a good surface to bond to. I’ll then fill the scratches and dings with a fairing compound, sand baby-butt smooth, and then recoat the gelcoat. Stay tuned though – I’ll detail everything I do including the mistakes!
February 15th, 2006 on 3:43 PM
Also note that the fairing of the hull will have to be done with a Polyester (or Vinylester) resin base. Gelcoat will not adhere to epoxy very well. I like working with epoxy where possible because it’s stronger and it’s a piece of cake to mix the correct proportions with the West System pumps.
February 17th, 2006 on 9:24 AM
Thank you for a lovely Valentime…and for snaring me, even though it sounds a little painful.
Microballoons always sound like so much fun. I’m still trying to get over my disappointment that it’s really just powder.