There is still a very big job of fairing to be done on the hull. Although everyone who has built a boat before me has had to do it, knowing that does not make the job any easier to tackle and the more I put it off the more I don’t want to do it. Randall had assured me that once you get into it, it doesn’t really take that long. But unfortunately I am still not ready to get into it. I do have a bit of an excuse, the fairing does create a bit of dust even though I have a dust extractor it is only really useful when using the power tools and dust still gets into the air and over our stock and there are a number of pallets that need to go out soon so as soon as they are gone I can get stuck in. Honestly!!!
In the meantime I still have a lot of internal taping to do. These are deceptively time consuming. It takes me a couple of hours to do one hull to bulkhead. I have glassed all of the pre coved (and sanded) joins, so I am attempting to cove and glass whilst wet.
This is a tricky job. I apply the cove in the usual way, using the shaped spatula and pushing the mix along the join with the spatula leaving a cove of filler. This is particularly tricky as there is a limit to how thick you can mix the stuff and it still seems to run. Gravity! Then once it is all in place and seems to be well applied I then go and start wetting out the glass strips. I am finding that it is easier to wet them out on a table and roll them when wet to unroll on the join. I know that the wombat is very effective but for such small lengths I don’t think the set up is time is worth it for the length.
The application of the wet tape is quite a challenge. Besides the curves that the flat glass has to negotiate there is again the effect of gravity, you have to have the glass wet to the panel before attempting to roll out any more from the roll because if it is not properly adhered it just peels away like wet wall paper, but to further complicate matters, I am applying the wet glass to soft cove and it is very hard not to mess up the nice smooth finish when trying to press out the air bubbles down in the wet glass into the cove. The pre sanded coves look much neater than the wet on wet coves but so far I have been doing the coves in the engine compartment so I am not too concerned but I need to get on top of it soon as I want the internal joins in the habitable rooms to look good.
I worked for 6 hours on Saturday and 6 hours on Sunday and only managed to get 2 bulkheads coved and glassed this weekend (back and front = 2 joins each day). I should be working longer hours, but I am happy not to work too hard on it. I don’t bother to start a job if I know I am going to run out of time that day, and whilst I could be doing smaller jobs I have decided I am happy not to work myself into the ground.
