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Spindrift 10N keel and tape bubbles questions


my36

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Hi,

First time builder (of anything) with more questions about my Spindrift 10N...

The plans say to use a length of 1x2 to make the keel. I used the hull shape

tracing technique I saw in the CD photos to mark and cut my keel. The only

thing that worries me is that it seems quite thin at the deepest part of the

hull. Is that a problem? Is the keel simply glued and screwed, or should it

be taped too?

I have a bubbles under my tape in a couple of places - at the transom (as shown

in the pic) and at the upper part of the nesting bulkheads where the tape is 6

layers thick. How big a problem is this? Any suggested remedies?

I'm having a lot of fun building her and I really expect I'll know what I'm doing

by the time I'm finished.

Thanks,

Lawrence

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A bubble under one layer of tape on a six layer layup isn't a structural problem, just ugly. You can grind the fiberglass down fair and patch it with a small piece. I would grind and patch the bubbles on the transom. In the photo I'm thinking not enough round-off on the 90 deg corner to allow the tape to conform, the usual cause of lifting. Rather than use tape around sharp corners I cut strips of fiberglass scrap on a 45 deg bias and use that. With the weave at a 45 the glass wraps better.

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If you sand the tape down on the transom joint, you might as well not have put any tape on in the first place. The glass fibers that cross over the joint are the only reason for taping it. It looks like enough roundover to me and I suspect that the tape should have been pressed down better as the epoxy was setting up. Any way, it should be fixed. I'd grind off all the offending tape in the bubble area and put on new. Never, ever, sand directly on a glass tape joint since that can destroy it's effectiveness. Sand only on the tape edges.

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Lawrence - How thick is the keel at the thinnest point? Can't tell from the pic. I think it should be 3/4" there and continuing forward, bending to fit the shape of the hull. The aft end should be the full 1 1/2", tapering forward to 3/4".

The aft end is the full 1.5 inches, but the thinnest section is more like 1/2 inch thick. The forward part goes back to almost the

full 1.5 inches but I planned it down some to give it a nice contour.

I'm hoping that since I don't plan to sail much (if at all) the keel depth won't

be a problem. I'm guessing it's not that important when rowing??

Thanks for all the feedback from everyone.

Lawrence

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The keel helps the boat track in a straighter direction when you're rowing. Without one, you'd tend to wander all over. If you find you're having trouble keeping on track with the rudder this size, adding a strip of wood to it wouldn't be too big a project. Plane the forward end down to about 3/4" and round the nose of it.

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