May 3, 2022

Holby 19

Tuesday

Another (unintentionally) short day, as I got sidetracked with unrelated things.  But I started hopefully with the flat area forward of the old jet tunnel, creating a pattern of the area on some plastic, then cutting eight layers of fiberglass, tapered at the sides and forward end, to fit the space. Each subsequent layer was roughly 1/2″ smaller on each side, except the aft side.  The height required at the aft end was just about one inch, and eight layers would be roughly half that, so I thought I’d install these and see about adding more as needed.

Preparing the pieces for installation reminded me of a Coneheads reunion.  After wetting out the layers, I installed them, four at a time, in the space forward of the patch.  It turned out that I should have tapered the aft ends less than the forward end, as the layers got too narrow too quickly and the stack didn’t adequately fill the space from side to side as much as I’d hoped, so for the moment this stalled my plan to add more layers today; I decided it would be better to let this cure, lightly sand, then figure out the final stack of layers required to fill the space enough at the aft end, without adding too much at the forward end or elsewhere.

I’d planned to do more fiberglassing on other parts of the stern throughout the day, mainly the inside and outside of the transom, but somehow, and without intention, the day was lost from here on other, unrelated tasks.

Total time billed on this job today: 2 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 47°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: Overcast then slow clearing, 60°