Monday, July 1, 2013

April 2013


This month I sanded both the port and starboard sides of the hull to smooth out the hull’s contour and to make a fair curve from the garboard to the sheer and from the stem to the stern. As I sanded the hull I found that there were hollow areas that needed to be faired with additional epoxy and filler.  As my microballon canister started to get empty and I looked into the amount of additional micro-balloons I would need to order, I wondered if there was a less costly alternative to West System microballon.  I consequently started to experiment with sawdust but found that sawdust was very course and hard to sand. Then one day I happened to be at my local sawmill and found that they had a 25 inch stationary sander that exhausted the sanding dust into a separate bin. Consequently I now had about 3 gallons of stationary sander dust/fibers that worked great as an epoxy filler and I started using these to fair out the hollows in the boat’s hull.  I spent a total of 9 hours fairing out the hull. Once the fairing process was completed it was time to order the fiber glass, epoxy resin and hardener. I ordered 25 yards of 6 oz. fiber glass, 4.35 gallons of West System 105 resin and 1 gallon of West System 206 C slow hardener and a West System 300 mini pump set. My reasoning was that I would have sufficient fiber glass and epoxy to complete the exterior and interior of the boat and take advantage of Jamestown Distributor’s pricing and free shipping.

 
 
 
 
 

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