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Spindrift 11N Build Log


roam

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Thanks Walt, Now that the weather is warming up I've been trying to get an hour or so in after work so that's definitely speeding up the process.

 

Where did you get the fiberglass for the outside of your boat? I'm planning on doing the entire hull and not just the chines also.

 

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Roam,


I bought 10 oz glass from BandB.  I concluded there wouldn't be much of a difference in shipping price if I bought it from BandB versus Fiberglass Supply or some other place.  Get yourself some epoxy spreaders and a Wooster roller tray.  Also, get yourself the Wooster T1Z rollers with the 1/8" nap, which can be cut in half on a band saw.  You want to mix a lot of epoxy (probably 8 pumps each of resin and epoxy) for each section you glass.  You can pour this large volume of epoxy into the roller pan so that it doesn't kick off on you while you roll it on.  The next day, you can break the dried resin off the pan.  I found that I was mixing batches that were far too small when I glassed and spending a lot of time mixing.  How much epoxy do you have?  I started the project with 2 gallons of resin and one of hardener and found I needed at least one more gallon of resin.

 

The second coat (fill coat) is better-applied with a spreader.  Mix some cabosil with the fill coat so it doesn't run down the vertical sides of the hull.  

 

Watch Alan's Coresound 15 videos on glassing.  I think they are videos 18 and 19. Using his technique, my glass job went fine with only one dry spot on the side of the hull that wasn't illuminated as well.

 

Start early!  I spent 6 hours glassing. 

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Thanks,  I'll contact B&B about the fiberglass and order the other tools you mentioned.. My kit came with three gallons of resin and 1.5 gallons of hardener.

 

Since I'm building the nesting version I'll be able to do the job in two parts which will probably take longer over all but each day should be shorter.

 

 

 

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When trying to figure out how much goo to use when wetting out fabric, calculate how much fabric you have in square yards and the weight of this material, is about what you'll need to wet it out. For example if you're about to apply 3 yards of 4 ounce fabric, you'll need 12 ounces of goo.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Since I last posted I did a fill coat on the interior fiberglass seems and flipped the boat and rounded the chines and filled in all the holes. Now everything is nice and smooooth. I've also started work on the dagger board. The next step is flipping it back over and chopping it in half.

 

After the plane my second favorite wood working tool is my soldering iron. If any of your temporary (or permanent) screws get epoxied in you can just heat up the screw with the soldering iron and the screws come right out. You can also use it to remove globs of hardened epoxy. A lot less work then trying to sand them down.

 

 

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I use a propane torch to heat a less than loved screwdriver tip, to remove goo'd in fasteners. Heat the tip until it's good and hot, press into the fastener head and hold it, while applying counter clockwise torque. In a few seconds, you'll feel the screw starting to break free, where you can then switch to a cordless driver. The heated tip cuts right through any goo or fairing compound, that might be clogging the drive portion of the fastener head too.

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Do you have any pictures of fitting the keel? 

 

If you wait to install the keel, you can cut out the centerboard slot with a router and edge trimmer. Alan does this in one of his Coresound 15 videos. 


The glass job, chines, and fairing look great, btw. 

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Walt, sorry I don't have pictures of fitting the keel.

 

Big night last night.

 

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Getting my nerve up.

 

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Moment of truth, breathe deep.

 

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It fits!

 

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Well sort of, I started freaking out about the hull contacting the seats but then I realized I haven't put the keel on which will raise the hull a bit. I'll leave freaking out for another day.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Latest progress. I've sealed the interior of the aft hull with expoxy and mounted the seat tops. I then got the aft hull flipped and fiberglassed the whole thing. That went pretty smoothly. If you want to make cutting fiberglass cutting eash and get really clean cuts I recommend picking up a cloth cutting wheel from the local crafts store. Much easier than a pair of scissors or a razor blade.

 

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Putting on that first coat of epoxy really makes the boat looks so much better. 

 

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I've put on the first filler coat of expoxy on the bottom since I took this picture and after I put on a second coat I'll take the boat off the saw horses so I can start filling in the sides and transom while they're facing up and can start fiberglassing the forward hull.

 

-Hugh

 

 

 

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I'm going to be taking next week off so I'm hoping to get to the painting stage which leads me to ask what are my options for paint and how much paint will I likely need? I would like to paint the interior and bottom of the boat a flat white and the topsides a dark blue. I'm planning on leaving the gunwales and seating areas bright.

 

thanks,

Hugh

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well I didn't quite get to the painting stage but I am a bit closer. It ended up taking days to sand the hull down but now it's nice and smooth. At this point I still need to install the dagger board trunk, put in the mast step, and install the top of the forward seating area. The bolt holes for the two hulls ended up getting filled with epoxy and I was a bit sloppy drilling them out so I'll be filling them back up with epoxy and redriling them to get a better fit between the hulls. Hopefully I'll be able to start painting the interior by next weekend (hopefully).

 

I didn't do the rope bit on the daggerboard as I was planning on covering the leading edge and keel with kevlar but the kevlar fabric I got was a complete mess so I'm on to plan B which is to just use a thin layer of sacrificial wood on the keel and just living with the daggerboard the way it is.

 

 

 

 

 

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You can see the dagger board in the foreground which is what the hull looked like before the days of sanding .

 

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I didn't round the edges of the hull where they mate which was a mistake so I ended up with some dry spots in the fiberglass on that edge.

 

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Looking great and brings back so many memories.

 

FWIW.....I did round the seams in question. But I am a racer at heart, and I hated that little butt crack around the center of the boat. I took some plastic and a board and made a dam and then filed it with thickened epoxy on one half. I then bolted the two side s together with plastic between them and gooped in the other side. Once cured I spit the boat, removed the plastic and with the two halves reconnected faired the hull. I did break a really tiny radius for protection apart. They mate perfect and look better and I am sure faster.

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You could go back and route that edge with a 1/4" roundover bit and then fiberglass tape that edge again if you're worried about the air bubbles. 

 

Looks great, btw.  I agonized over the centerboard trunk for awhile.  I watched Alan's video and then looked at the pictures of Spindrift building on the website. 

 

Boatbuilding has exposed all my neuroses to me.   

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Thanks for all the comments.

 

Most of the dry spots ended up being ground out as they were poking up over the rest of the area. I ended up filling the resulting divots with ez-weld wood repair epoxy. I think it'll look fine when it's done but the fiberglass wont be providing much structural integrity in those areas.

 

 It's definitely been quite the learning experience and I'm thinking of building another boat after this, though something smaller like a kayak or canoe. Since I've been buying woodworking tools during the build it would be a shame to only use them once.

 

 

 

 

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