The Inner Ewe

At this stage, you have two halves of a boat. Pick one and glass the inner surface.

 I did the hull first. I scraped the interior with a tear drop shaped scraper I bought for a buck fifty. Such a deal. I bought two, if truth be told because you be nuts not to. Am I right? I used the scraper primarily for the glue drops and the extra cove that sat proud. The random orbit palm sander / vacuum cleaner combo worked well for the lions share of the fairing. You don't have to get it perfect, but close helps.

 Mix up some thickened fairing putty and fillet the stems and any sharp corners. I used my finger in the nitrex glove to get the radius, and when I put the glass in, it lay down perfectly. You may need to cut your glass if it doesn't cooperate at the stems, but it wasn't a problem for me. 

There are basically two thickeners you will use. Micro balloons are made from quartz and will tend to flow out at almost any mixture. You will also need fine silica powder. It is extremely lightweight, and will bring the epoxy to any consistency. Mixed with the micro balloons, it is an awesome filleting compound. By itself, silica is great for any thing that needs to be glued and faired in one shot. I used it on the combing, the skeg box, plant ons and even small epoxy plugs in the stem tips to support the rope dowels. The thickeners do not wet out transparent, so whatever your epoxy color, it will be cloudy. West System 206 is white and 207 is lemon yellow. Kind of like frothy piss. Almost.

Now it's time to spread the epoxy. Mix up a beer cup full and start in the middle by pouring the epoxy along the keel line in a puddle. Your trusty squeegee thingy will draw the goo up the sides and wet out the glass. Now don't move too quick or your will force air into the cloth and it looks bad. Personal foul Landreth. The real problem is the damn glass floating on the damn resin and if you don't keep going back and squeegeeing it smooth, the glass floats and you get a lumpy finish. You may also get air bubbles that will miraculously appear out of your staple holes. They will creep in and if you don't catch them, you will have a small void under your cured glass and that is not good. Getting epoxy into those voids after the fact isn't easy, boy-o. Drilling a teeny tiny hole and squirting in epoxy is a plan, but how you do that is up to you. I haven't actually attempted that repair yet. Maybe tomorrow. 

When the epoxy gets to the almost completely gelled stage, trim off any excess with a razor knife cutting against a steel putty knife or a plastic squeegee thingy. I didn't do that on the deck when I glassed it, and what a pain in the ass that was. I really can't stress the importance of trimming before your second coat. Fiber glass cloth is really glass. Honest. It can be as sharp as hell when it is stiff with epoxy. REAL sharp. There was blood and everything.

A second coat is a good idea if you want a really tough and heavier boat. The more epoxy, the more weight. 

Fillet the cockpit recess on the deck before begin with the cloth.

The inner deck is the smallest surface area and the easiest to glass. Pour epoxy from a beer cup again, and be extra careful not to drink any epoxy because you momentarily forgot what was in your favorite plastic container. That wouldn't be good. Keep an eye on things as the resin cures. The glass may want to lift in the cockpit recess area. 

It will feel at this point that you have almost completed your construction. I'm here to tell you that you are so very wrong to assume that assumption.

Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!!