I got started glassing the hull. This is something that's been pretty intimidating to me, having never done it before.
I've been thinking about my strategy on this for a while...how much to glass, etc. After noodling on it, and in particular seeing what sizes of glass were available from Duckworks, I decided to cover the whole hull (including the sides all the way up to the sheer). I bought my glass in 50" width, which means I can lay it on the bottom with one edge on the keel and the other edge will come down all the way to the sheer. Or at least get close.
So I started the job tonight.
Here is my initial lay-down of fiberglass:
Next I took a dry paintbrush and started smoothing it out. That stuff is remarkable. I can't believe how loose the weave is. The wrinkles and bulges just seem to disappear.
After a few minutes of work, including cutting points on the bow and stern corners, I had this result:
Came out great. I did the other side the same way, overlapping it at the center. Except for the part where the centerboard will be. I left a smidge of a gap there so I could get the glass all the way (almost) to the sheer at the boat's widest point. Since I'll be cutting the centerboard slot, and glassing over the opening, etc, there's no problem leaving this gap here.
I decided to let this "rest" overnight. Hopefully, whatever minor wrinkles there are will soften out.
At the moment, the plan is to get up in the morning and lay down the first layer of epoxy. Not sure how long that will take, but I'm guessing a couple of hours at the most (optimistic?). I'm going to use the "slow" hardener, and its pretty cool out, so I'm hoping its still tacky when I get home from work, at which time I will put on another coat. Then the following morning I'll go back with a coat of epoxy loaded with micro-balloons, then let that cure and hopefully be able to hit it with a longboard on Sunday.
That's the plan anyway. We'll see how it goes.
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