November 25, 2024

PT11-22

Monday

I lightly sanded the edges where the new gussets met the hull and bulkheads, as well as around the daggerboard trunk and upper mast step, to clean up any bits of epoxy that might have been there (there really wasn’t any), and also lightly sanded the faying surfaces all around where the bulkhead and gusset fillets would soon be installed.  Afterwards, I thoroughly cleaned the inside of the boat to prepare for fillets.

I planned the fillets in two stages:  first the bulkhead fillets, around the base of the daggerboard trunk, and part of the upper gussets; then, once those cured sufficiently, I’d do the gussets themselves, and any remaining adjacent areas.  3-way corners were tough enough to fillet under any circumstances, never mind when all the fillets were wet at once.

Working on one side at a time, with the boat tipped up for improved access, I installed the fillets on the main bulkhead, daggerboard trunk, and half the undersides of the upper fillets, cleaning up the excess epoxy as thoroughly as possible.  I also chose to fillet the forward side of the after bulkhead, where the seat tanks would eventually be built, since it seemed that the hull chine tabbing would partially overlap the fillets at the ends, and I thought it’d be nice to have these fillets in place now even though the instructions suggested waiting till the remainder of the aft tanks were constructed later.  I’d just conjoin the partial fillets later.  I used epoxy with fast hardener for these fillets so that they might cure enough before the end of the day to allow me to continue with the gussets later on.

With some epoxy leftover from the fillets, I also did a first round of filling on the main bulkhead slots on the outside of the hull, and also a bit around the towing tube in the stem.

Next, I sanded the glossy epoxied surface of the foredeck and hatch to remove gloss, clean up from the overfilled, potted-epoxy hatch dog locations around the hatch, and otherwise prepare the foredeck for the next steps.  The various construction steps were now complete, and the foredeck awaited its time to be installed in the boat, which wouldn’t happen till after the boat was cut in two a bit later.

In the early afternoon, awaiting the first fillets to cure, I prepared all the fiberglass tape for tabbing over the hull seams inside the boat, along with strips of peel ply to cover it.  I’d be installing this tabbing as soon as all the fillets were complete.  The manual provided lengths for all the tapes (I confirmed several with actual measurement), and I laid out the strips according to their eventual locations in the boat.

By now, the first round of fillets had cured sufficiently for me to continue with the remaining fillets around the gussets and upper portion of the daggerboard trunk.    These were complex areas to fillet, and it seemed likely I’d have to touch up a few areas later for best appearance, but they turned out fairly well.  Only the fillets on the aft side of the bulkhead would be visible in the finished boat, but I wanted them all neat regardless.

Total time billed on this job today: 7 hours