Steve Day

Scott, Are you planning to use that boat in the Fla 120? Steve

Paul, Interlux Brightside primer. It was applied with a roller and I tipped it with a foam brush (more for the practice than anything else). It took just short of a quart to cover the hull with one coat. I have lightly sanded it and will put a second coat on later this week. Color coat next. Thanks for the encouragement. Steve

Weather was warm enough this weekend and we had time to finish the sanding and clean up the shop. I was able to get one coat of primer onto the hull today. There are a couple of spots to work on yet and another coat is needed before the color. Here are a couple of photos of the hull with the first coat of primer. Maybe it will be warm enough to get the second coat on this week. Steve

While I haven't built a CS-17, I found that there was no way I could put that many hours a day in on the builds I have done. When I was into the epoxy/fiberglass work heavily on these boats, I found that I could only put a few hours a day into the boat before I ran into epoxy cure time. Knowing Ray through this forum (I would like to meet him face-to-face someday), his thoughts about the build are "right on." 30 days is just too short to get a build done, in my opinion, Steve

Hey Konrad, You could start up a class on Branched Oak Lake. They would fit right in over there. Steve

We finally got back to the boat this weekend. Wally worked most of yesterday and he and I worked on it today. We have the whole boat sanded smooth now and have applied the last of the touch-up filler. After an overnight cure and sanding a bit tomorrow, we should be ready for the primer. It has been COLD here this winter! :shocked!: :shocked!: We have had temps in the 20's and 30's almost every night for the past couple of weeks, and the next week doesn't look a whole lot different. Hopefully, it will be warm enough to apply the primer later this week. Suffice it to say, between the weather and our schedules, we haven't gotten as much done on the boat as we would have liked. We are looking for more progress over the next few weeks. One can only hope, eh? Pictures to follow when we get primer on the boat. Steve

A Hobie 18 would not be out of place in the sailing part. It might be interesting to get all your camping/cooking gear on her, but I'm sure someone could help with those logistics. If I do the 120 (which I won't know for some time), I would be happy to carry your stuff on our boat. I would bringing the 40 footer, or the 28 footer, so room would not be an issue. Steve

Impressive!!! It is looking great, Mike. And all I have been doing is sanding, when it isn't too cold to even do that. Steve

Peter, That is definitely a pretty day and a pretty place to sail. That is a nice alternative to cold weather and sanding. Steve

Roger, The Peel-Ply is reusable. We used a couple of pieces several times. The stuff is pretty cool. I worked about 4 hours on the boat today and the whole starboard side is sanded from the keel to the chine and most of the side is completed, too. Not much to show in pictures, but it sure feels smooth to the touch. Port side is next - when Wally and I can get back to it. It was great working in the (relatively) warm, dry barn with rain and sleet going on outside. IT AIN'T SUPPOSED TO SLEET IN LOWER ALABAMA!!!!! :shock: :shock: Steve

Ken, What you see there is a air powered long board, a hand long board and a random orbital. I rarely use the random orbital, and I use the two long boards almost exclusively. I found a few new muscles using the hand long board! :shock: Steve

Hello All, I see from other threads that everyone is feeling the effects of the cold weather and precipitation this winter. It's been quite cold here in Alabama, too. The weather people are calling for high 20's to low 30's for tonight and tomorrow night, then more rain. After that we do it all over again. I finally got out to work on the boat this week. We are working on the final sanding before primer and we have the starboard side sanded back to midships from the bow. We're getting there, but it is slow. Here are a couple of pictures of the boat as she sits right now. Steve

It's even too cold here in Lower Alabama. I was out at the barn working on the Rescue Minor and the only thing I could do is sand. We are using cold weather epoxy and hardener and even that takes too long to cure in the cold barn. Down to the 20's here tonight & tomorrow night. Brrrrrr Steve

Scott, If I bring the big boat, I will also bring the Spindrift 10N sailing dinghy to make it more fun to come ashore. We'll have to see how things develop as the time approaches. It was really too hard to get together to talk, and there were a whole bunch of folks to take up your time. We'll make sure we get some time this year. Glad to see you are doing it again. Steve

Hey Garry, How are you doing and where are you these days? Steve

Scott, Nice article! You caught the essence of the event. Too bad Gina and I didn't get a little closer to your group with the J-28. Our draft just didn't allow it. We'll keep this year in our tentative plans and will most likely make some sort of appearance. Not sure what boat we'll bring. Steve

What a great article about a really great guy! Congratulations to Graham on his 25 years. I went over to the class with Graham when we visited Graham and Carla a couple of years ago. That was a great group of enthusiastic people. It does my heart good to see such a thing go on for all these years. Steve

6 oz over the whole hull with the keel area overlapped and then the bias ply on top of the 6 oz. That should give us sufficient keel protection for beaching the boat. The name of the "leveling cloth" stuff is "Peel-Ply." It is a polyester cloth that is applied and smoothed out after you soak out the fiberglass cloth. After the epoxy cures, you simply peel the "Peel-Ply" off the cured epoxy and it leaves a smooth surface with a VERY fine weave pattern. Finishing the surface left by the "Peel-Ply" is much simpler than the surface left by not using the material. We love it! :grin: :grin: Steve

Haven't had much to report on for the past week or two because we were slowed down due to the rather cool weather here in Alabama. The temps moderated this last week and we were able to get the port half of the hull glassed with 6oz cloth & epoxy. Yesterday, we applied the 14 oz biaxial cloth on the keel and out to the chine. That soaked up lots of epoxy, but it looks pretty good today, after we took the "leveling cloth" off. Now we are at the point where we are going to sand to get ready for paint. We have a long board, but that appears to be a lot of work. We are looking into an air-powered long board to help us with all of the hand work. Sanding is not my favorite thing, but it will help us get a more acceptable finish. :grin: Here are some shots of the boat as she sits now. Steve

That boat is really starting to look good. Nice job! I really like your shop. It must be nice to work in a purpose-built area. :-D I'll be watching to see the boat on the water. Steve

Gene, I, too, built a Hartley 18 back in 1976. It was a geat boat and it was the first my son went out on (when he was a few months old). Brings back a few memories. We used the boat in the Stuart, Florida area and sailed most of the Indian and St. Lucie Rivers. We found it to be a great family boat. I will follow your project with interest. Take and send lots of pictures. Steve

Looking good. It will be great to see her done. Steve

Wally and I had a good day today. :grin: I got out to the barn this morning and sanded the final time on the hull to take out the last filling compound and for final adjustments on hull shape. I also "dry fit" the glass cloth on the starboard side. I came back after lunch and we put the glass on the starboard side. With two guys working, we were able to get it done in a reasonable time. It was cold for Lower Alabama with outside temps around 50 degrees, but we were able to keep the barn warm enough to get the epoxy to cure. Here are a couple of pics of the work. Steve

Here are pics of the stern tube on the mandrel and after I took it off. Really looks pretty good. Will have to put aside for a while and let it cure while we glass the hull. Steve

Herschel, The Rescue Minor we are building right now is the 5th boat I have built using RAKA epoxy. I highly recommend it. As Kudzu says, some fumed silica for a thickener is highy recommended to make structural joints and fillets. Steve