Work Day 12

Today started to tackle the floor installation. It has been a little slow because I realized I would need a lot more fiberglass in order to create a laminate layer on the cabin floor. Combined with the 20 degree weather not being friendly to epoxy there has not been much progress. Yesterday it started to warm up again so I jumped out and started getting the deck ready and laying up the keel.

First the floor supports.  I had to finish by grinding back the rest of the floor left on the aft wall of the cabin.  Once this was done I sized up the floor support we cut.  Turns out we left it 3/4" too high, this would take a long time to sand so I simply ran over to wood shop and cut it down.  Then I laid it in with west system 610 epoxy.  The first day I capped the epoxy tube hoping to use it again, that was a joke.  I came back the next day to do some lay up work and it was not even budging.  So I think you have to use the tube all at once.  Anyway after coming back to the support the next day it seemed solid.

So I began to lay the second support. This would be the first challenge since it was free standing. When we cut these with a sawcaz(our first mistake, should have used a jig saw) our cuts left some gaps between cabin and wood.  I figured I could fill it with epoxy, which was true to a point.  But it was clear the gaps would eat up a lot of the epoxy glue.  Balance when laying the second support was critical because this would determine slope of the floor.  The level indicated a down hill toward the bow, which I was ok with because that would assure water flowed to the bilge.  The deck plywood was already bowing a little so it would hopefully drop it there.  The one angle I am worried about is how flat the top of the second support is. If it sits at a forward or backward angle it will be impossible to lay a deck on it unless I sand it down and increase the downward slope (which will be added down the line).

Day 1 laying in the aft support to the wall

using the wood atop kept the second support standing upright during the gluing process.

Here you can see the third support(not laid just placed) backs up to the bilge.  

Before laying down the third support I wanted to figure out the bilge situation and replace the forward cabin floor.  Because that wall will be critical to determining positioning.  So I think I will lay the third support tomorrow.  Plus I need to shave off 3/4" on it. Oddly enough the second support did not require a 3/4" cut to make it level.  At the forward end of the bilge will be the wall. But for the wall to be there the forward cabin level needs to be placed.

I will have to devise a way for the forward wall to support the deck floor.  I am thinking of taking plywood extra or maybe a small 2X4 and fiberglassing it in as a lip. Supporting it with fiberglass means I will not have to nail it down and risk ruining plywood integrity.  Also, I believe the fiberglass lip will work, that is how I planning to do the seats.  But I need to place all the other supports first, then figure out what height to put the lip at then check it, then coat with epoxy and fiberglass.


The day before this I finally finished the fiberglass job on the keel!!! Yeah!!!! It is up to the levels I think it should be, I will then coat it in low density filler and sand it to take shape.  I am going to hold off on that job until I paint.  I decieded the same thing with the filler on the machined holes. I grinned down the one hole on the port side and saw that I was really just moving paint around. So when I strip off the paint I will make sure these are flush and good looking!  But the projects are done! Also not pictured, but I did lay up fiberglass and epoxy on the inside of these machined holes for added strength.

This final keel fiberglass job.  One strong girl!

Though you cant tell this is actually smooth to the touch and seamless.  Can't tell where the repair is and the boat begins.

Also, fun side note. My go to supply store has been jamestown distributors....yes I will take my discount for name reference now.  They are good people helping boaters. I called asking about paints for this boat and what the layup strategy should be.  Basically the white stuff that you see around the ground away keel is the original boat gel coat. This was the precursor to epoxy barrier coat. As a result....lucky me I get to grind down to the gel coat and apply an epoxy barrier coat to the entire boat. That will serve as a primer coat then I can paint bottom anti fouling and the top side paint.


Also today I sized up the buoyancy bags in the boat.  Unfortunatly the bow buoyancy bag did not fit in the forward hull.  It would have to be about 2/3 deflated in order to do so.  So I shoved the two long bouancy bags I had up there. They each produce 100 lbs of buoyancy which is only about 75 lbs short of what the bow bag did.  The stern bag fit fine. Which means I am light on buoyancy now but, honestly I don't think its much of a priority for this boat. There is no place to put the buoyancy and it will only be a day sailor on a lake for me. So, not like it needs to be the titanic.  I think it will offset the keel ballast so it will give me time to think while the boat takes on water ha ha..and at $90 a bag for stupid plastic floaties...I am ok not buying more and returning one.

The two forward bags. One on either side of the support.  

The stern bag sitting behind the rudder pipe.

Final task of the day was to tackle the plywood rotting delamination on the forward cabin .  The plywood was pretty dried out by now. So I used the rest of the 610 epoxy tube to essentially pump the wood full of epoxy at different layers. Then I used clamps over night to ensure it stays shut.

You can see from the right side that the wood will be much closer together. This also includes delamination from the fiberglass laminate.

Well that's all for now, waiting for jamestown order to come in with more fiberglass to lay up the laminate on the deck floor, hopefully the epoxy will last. I am about 50% through my gallon kit.