Team Seacats

We just updated the site software…I noticed that the comment links don’t appear to be working – I’ll get on that soon.

If you ain’t got that cling….Sorry – for some reason I made the association between gel coat, jello, and that old cling wrap commercial. I got the gel coat sprayed on the repair but it didn’t quite qualify for the level of “schmoof”. During the last gel coat project, I received some advice from David Lennard (that I didn’t follow at the time) to brush on a thin coat of gel coat before spraying subsequent layers with the hope that it would prevent pin holes. I did it this time and it worked marvelously! However, when I started spraying the first coat of gel coat, I forgot to tune the flow rate on the paint gun and the first pull of the trigger unleashed a fire hose like amount of gel. Instead of doing the right thing and wiping it off, I continued to spray. The intial large volume left the coat a little lumpy – it ~almost~ wanted to drip. Subsequent coats made it better but it will still require just a little extra wet sanding to get it right. That aside, the finish on the fresh gel coat is a lot better than what we achieved before because I really started spraying each coat on pretty darn thick. I thinned the gel coat with an equal part of styrene and added about 1.5% hardener. For the last couple of coats, I added about 2% of surfacing agent (parafin wax disolved in styrene). The surfacing agent floats to the surface of the gel coat and seals it from the air. This is important because the outer layer of gelcoat won’t cure if it is contact with air. All in all, I think I applied 12 coats because I knew I was going to have to sand a bit. Anyway…I don’t think I’ll have the chance to sand it tomorrow since I need to get everything packed up and spend some quality time with Bonnie. It will have to wait until after the regatta. Just in case we have no wind, I might take some sandpaper with me this weekend.

EDIT: I later determined that the surfacing agent for gel coat is just too finicky to work with. Different temperatures and humidities require different percentages. I now spray a thin layer of PVA (Poly Vinyl Alcohol) on top of the fresh gel coat to seal it from the air and get a good cure…the PVA method is simple and bulletproof and just rinses away with water.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

That’s what I say when explaining to Bonnie how the repair is looking….it’s shmoof.

The fiberglass and polyester resin (poly because I’m finishing with gel coat) cured nicely. I shaped the repair carefully with a palm sander and some 100 grit paper finishing up with 150. I used a wood-worker’s curve guide to compare the radius with the repair and the new bow and they look very very close in shape. Then I cleaned the repair with acetone and used an air nozzle to blow out and clean out the few pin holes. I applied a skim coat of bondo filler and let it set for about 45 minutes before sanding it with my long board and some 150 grit paper. Once I had it nicely shapped, I hand sanded with a foam block and some 300 grit (just lightly to clean it up). It was getting a little late and it’s really humid thanks to Tropical Storm Alberto. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining – we really need the rain. It’s supposed to stop raining early tomorrow so maybe it will dry up enough to spray some gel coat on the repair. If it doesn’t, that’s OK because the hull is sound again – even more so than it was originally. We’ll make this weekends regatta in Atlanta no problem.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

I got the crack cut away and the fiberglass laid on the F18 this evening. The underlying problem was a poor joint with voids. I imagine it cracked either while being deeply submerged during one of the two pitchpoles (where the bows were submerged to substantial depths!) from the regatta several months ago or from standing on the side of it while trying to get it to spin into the wind properly to be righted. At any rate, the joint was pretty bad to begin with – should be stronger than new when the polyester resin sets up tonight. Tommorow, I’ll clean up and fair the repair area and if the weather permits, spray some gelcoat back on it Wednesday evening.

I’m finally able to get up and about again (whew!) – I’ll be seeing someone about that siatic nerve thing next week but for now, that’s behind me. There’s good news with the generator as well. I installed the new Flight System’s voltage regulator (they claim to have a heavier duty version of the factory Onan part) and everything runs great again. It turns out that the voltage regulator is a pretty high-tech and sensitive piece inside these generators. During start-up, it steps up and applies 18V to the field to get the current flowing the correct direction, then it constantly monitors the output AC of the generator and modifies the field voltage to keep it stabilized. Apparently the original Onan regulator suffered from some sort of “startup failure” that this Flight Systems regulator protects against…that’s probably what got me when I was relentlessly trying to get it to start during the ice storm we had last winter. This new regulator is also filled with a gel instead of epoxy and they claim that it is repairable – another plus. At any rate, I need to tweak the govenor slightly so that the frequency the generator is outputing drops about 3Hz to keep the governor stable (keeps it from looping or “hunting”). I also need to understand a little more about fine tuning the carburetor so I’m sure to get the best efficiency out of it – I’ll be buying one of the factory service manuals to make sure I’m turning the right screws this time. As for the other carburetor, It’s a pretty simple device, I’ll be cleaning it up to keep as a backup in the future since this thing tends to sit from time to time. The Team Seacats “Sailing Shack” is now ready for some summer nights with the A/C running.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

PS – we’ve just discussed making a major refit to the interior – on the overcab (over the driver/passenger front seats) we currently have large cabinets and a 19″ TV…we’ve decided to strip this out and convert the overcab for a bed – maybe putting in a flat panel tv later. This will allow us more sleeping space – as usual, we’ll keep it real here.