I now have a full roof, well minus the 2 voids that will be filled by the nidacore over the cockpit sides which will be fitted just before I glass the roof. These cores have a scrim (a sheet of porous material welded to the core for the glass to adhere to) that must be wet out and glassed to while wet and cant be glued in place and sanded (you cant sand the scrim off) like the duflex or duracore.

I had the usual Sunday early start so I could spend the afternoon with Jo. Unfortunately I didn’t get as much done in the morning as I wanted so I took Jo to Ikea (her choice for the afternoon) and then went back to finish what I wanted to get done today. I strip planked the starboard side in the morning and glued them in the late afternoon. I started the day sanding the port side down ready for glassing. It is a bit bumpier than I would have liked but smooth enough for glass to adhere well to. The bumps will be taken out by bog once the glass is on. I also had a few areas I had to sand down highs that meant going through the hoop pine veneer on the duracore. Not ideal as the glass does not adhere as well to the balsa as it would the pine veneer. The key will be to wet these balsa show throughs out with resin before I start glassing, maybe the day before and a light sand so as not to go through back to the balsa but to key the resin.

In the afternoon I simply spread the glue into the planking joins and filled the screw holes from the other side. Once this sets tomorrow (glue sets hard enough to sand overnight in Summer) I will remove the screws from all but the edges and sand the glue down again to a smooth finish and then back fill the screw holes. Once these set the next day (Tuesday) I can final sand the roof, clean the dust off (I blow it off with a blower) and measure out the glass ready to wet out, which I am hoping to do on Tuesday, a public holiday here for the Melbourne cup, well I should say a public holiday in Melbourne where the company I work for is based so the likelihood of work arising Tuesday is minimal, hence a public holiday for me too. I am still trying to decide what will be easier or better, glassing the boat fore and aft or across the roof, the glass must overlap by 100mm but it makes no difference which way the glass runs. I am also trying to devise a way to get bog onto the green glass without getting on the roof. I cant reach the middle from the sides, so this will take some doing. I am thinking a spreader on a stick at this stage.

Working under the bridgedeck takes it out of you, or I should say makes for aching muscles and back. My calves in particular are quite sore after the weekend. But I am stoked to have the full roof planked. I now have all the parts of my boat made. I just have to fabricate the steps and raised duckboard for the complete shell. The nose cones still need to be made too but I wont do these until nearly the very end. But the major parts are all made or provided (cabin side wrap arounds) and the complete boat shape is not far away.