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Diva 2 Progress


Steve Day

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Well, I got the kayak turned over and sanded fair. This noon marked the end of the sanding for a bit and the start of the fiberglass work on the outside of the hull.

It was a bit of a chore, but the glass is expoxied in place and curing tonight. I used 3.25 oz glass cloth and that stuff relatively easy to work with. Now a bit of filling and some more sanding to get the outside ready for paint.

This is fun, when I can get a chance to work on it.

See ya,

Steve

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Ray,

It's funny you should ask. I kept pretty meticulous records of the Spindrift 10N project and rough estimates of the

Garvey. However, I didn't think to do any tracking on this one.

I looked back at my calendar tonight and made an estimate of the hours worked and think I am at about 60 hours. I started the boat on June 28 and have worked on it whenever I get a lull in the rest of my schedule. I have about half of the hull faired in and smooth at this point.

Steve

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A little more progress to report. I have 3/4 of the hull faired after the glassing and it is quite nice. I believe it will come out very nice when painted. I ran out of phenolic microspheres and have ordered some from Raka, but they have not arrived yet. In the meantime, I turned the boat over (upright) and glassed the inside of the cockpits and am ready to smooth them out, when the microspheres arrive.

Today, I was stalled and decided to fill the very ends of the boat with epoxy to provide a "plug" in which to drill the holes for the toggles and to hinge the rudder. To do this, I had to stand the boat on end and pour the epoxy. I saw this as an opportunity to get an unusual photo of the boat. 8) (The area at the top right of the boat in this picture shows the part of the hull that has not been smoothed and faired with microballons.)

After that exercise, I cut and placed the deck stringers in the fore and aft ends of the boat. There are pictures of them attached. I also started to lay out the deck panels this afternoon.

All this sandwiched in between work on the big boat. We got the rudder back in this afternoon, the new waterline boot top painted Wednesday and all of the other stuff done. She will be going in the water tomorrow and out on charter Saturday morning. Very busy around here these days. ;D

See ya,

Steve

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Hey Gang,

I was able to get a little done on the kayak since my last posting. We are suffering through a heat wave down here and I have been hanging in the garage when I can working on the boat. On thing, the epoxy cures rather quickly. The watch word around here now is SMALL BATCHES!  ;D

Here are a couple of shots of the kayak taken this evening. I have the backing plates for the rudder pedals in place and the forward cockpit finish filled and sanded. Also the aft deck is glued in place.

I believe it's starting to look like a kayak.  :o

Steve

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I love the speed that can be worked when it is warm enough, but the brushes will start smoking eventually.  I rarely use a brush at all anymore since a squeegee or flat stick work better anyway.  4 or 5 squirts of the West Systems in a plastic cup seems to work well.

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It's warm enough here right now that the batch is one squirt of the Raka epoxy and one-half squirt of the SLOW hardener are all that I can use. If I am mixing it up as a filler, it is warm before I can get it mixed and hot by the time that I get it on the boat. Fortunately, the reaction slows down once I get it spread out a little so that I can get it smoothed out before it goes off.

It has been close to 100 degrees here for the last several days and it is unbearable until the sea breeze starts in the late morning or early afternoon. Not too bad after that.

Steve

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Good idea, Ray.  How about a small refrigerator or something like that to control the temperature? 

I wonder how Charlie Jones deals with it, since he builds on Matagorda Bay and it is as hot as where Steve is at?

This problem is completely opposite what I deal with in Michigan.

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Hey Guys!

A little progress in the last couple of days. A lot of the work doesn't show in pictures, but it does when the fore deck is mounted. Here are a couple of shots of that and one of the rudder pedals in place. It's a lot easier to put them in before I put the intermediate deck on the boat.  8)

It's still hot and I can only make about two hours in the shop without getting into the air conditioning. Went over to the USS Alabama to put the deposit down for the Scout Troop overnighter on Aug 31. That should be a hoot for an old Navy guy.

Steve

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Hello All,

Another post to give you an idea of where I am in the Diva 2 build. I have the rudder pedals in place and the wire fairleads in place and will install the rudder when I turn the boat around in the garage in the next couple of days. The forward hatch is glued together and I will be trimming and fairing the hatch tomorrow. The forward and aft hatch coamings are complete and faired in. I just started the lay-up of the aft hatch today and will be continuing that assembly over the next day or so.

While I was waiting for the hatch lay-ups to cure, I started the paddles. I was able to get them both assembled and am now working on applying the epoxy to get ready for varnish. In my quest for the right wood for the shafts, I was able to get Aspen for one of them. When I went back to get the wood for the second one, there was not any Aspen in the correct size, so I got Poplar. It is hard to tell which one of them is lighter. They both are lighter than the "production" aluminum and plastic paddles for sale at West Marine and other places. I'm very happy with these paddles and am impatiently awaiting my first opportunity to use them.

Here are a few pictures of the boat taken this afternoon. Take note of my "high tech" clamp for the forward hatch final lay-up. I couldn't use the "hole" any more and had to think a moment or two to get this rig.

Steve

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Hi Guys,

I'm moving right along on the Diva 2. Got the mid-deck on yesterday and started the lay-up of the cockpit coamings today. I also worked on the final fit of the fore and aft hatches today.

To fill in the time, I started to sand the deck for final finish between the other work.

As you can see, she's beginning to look like a kayak! I amaze myself sometimes when my boats come together. :o

Steve

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