Day 48 - Gettin' better

Today was simple. Dig the wire stitches out of the cured epoxy on the keel, snip them off and drive the extra below the surface of the plywood. Take the orbital sander with 60 grit sandpaper and sand down the cured epoxy that had run through the gap in the keel (but had been stopped by the blue tape) to bare wood. Pour epoxy in the gaps in the keel where the epoxy from the inside hadn't run to. Put down three layers of 10 oz glass; four inches, six inches and eight inches wide; the length of the keel, but stopping short of the 1/2" to 1/4" scarf.

I'm getting good at this. There were almost no wet looking spots (indicating to much epoxy), just weave showing in the final layer. I used what resin was left to fill holes and smooth out the scarf in the back end of the boat.

Then I cut the stitches around the chine flats at the front of the keel. I'll drive those flush, and do the stitches in the keel in the 1/4" plywood when I have more support in place. The bow section of the keel is just hanging there so it's pretty wobbly (technical term ;-).

Tomorrow we'll set this up out of the way so I can start on the jig for holding the transom, stringers, shelves, bowstem and keel in place (in that order).

3 Hours