True to the plan I had outlined in the last post, I laid out my collection of sanding contraptions, set a time to one hour, and attacked the fillets between bulkhead #8 and the transom. I should take a picture of all of my sanding tools...in and attempt to make this tasteless job as easy as possible I really have amassed quite a collection.
Back to the fillets...I went at them with various tools, but found that using my best fried, the random orbital sander, worked the best. Of course, I was using it in a very abusive and incorrect way. The rulebook of tool use says, "lay the sander flat against the surface, don't tilt it an just use the outer edge." Well, that's not the way I used it. Tough beans.
I used my detail sanding, drill-mounted grinding disk, and some good old hand sanding, and manages to take care of almost everything that the random orbital sander missed. But there was one spot that nothing was really effective on. So, I called in the big guns. Dremel tools are awesome. They're fast, they're light, and they'll cut through just about anything. Unfortunately, the same characteristics that make them so powerful, also make them dangerous. One little slip, or too much overexuberance and you're dealing with a monumentally unintended gash in your project. Needless to say, when I fired up the Dremel, I was very, very careful. And it paid off. The trouble spot disappeared and I wasn't left with a hole in my hull.
With the sanding back there complete, the next step was to fiberglass the area. To make things neater, I used a trick I learnt on the Pygmy kayak. Run tape around the perimeter of the area to be 'glassed. Lay out the 'glass and trim it so that it extends on to the tape. Wet out the 'glass. Let it sit for about 2 hours. Take a sharp utility knife, and cut the 'glass along the inside edge of the tape, being careful no to cut into whatever is underneath the glass that you are cutting. Peel up the tape, taking with it the rough edges of the 'glass. This leave you with a nice, clean edge. Combined with a good wet out technique, the finished product requires a minimum of sanding.
 |
| Masking off in preparation of fiberglassing |
 |
| Fiberglass on the starboard side, ready to be wetted out. The port side has already been done. |
Sean, another Pocketship builder, mentioned that he had run fiberglass tape along the transom joints. Liek me, he's planning on hanginga small outboard off the transom, and he figured that to be safe, he'd add som tape to really beef up that joint to handle the extra loads. I'm of the opinion that it is probably unnecessary and overly conservative to do this. So, naturally, I decided to do it too.
Progress is still slow, but at least it is moving again. And it is slow for all the right reasons, including:
 |
| Overnight kayaking trip to Hope Island |
 |
| Backpacking trips to Toleak Point... |
 |
| ...and Marmot Pass |
 |
| Fly fishing in Idaho |
 |
| Evening kayak trips around Everett |
And lots of other day hikes, bike rides, and the like. And the great news it, summer ain't over yet!
So, next up, it is time to move on to the next phases of my sand-for-an-hour-then-glass plan. I have my stopwatch ready!
No comments:
Post a Comment