Hi All,
I started my boat on June 19th and so far have the the deck attached, the mast box installed, and will be putting on the sides by the weekend.
My plan is to roll the boat over ( the plans say one can do this with the above minimal build and the boat will be at it's lightest )
I am in a confined space, 24x21 tarp garage, the boat is on a dolly similar to the one of Brian's, and I was thinking that it would be easiest to just put the boat on it's side instead of a full upside down position, do that side with glass and paint, then flip it to it's other side and repeat the process. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Many thanks.
Just a suggestion. I painted the nose area of my boat before attaching the sides because I didn't want to have to crawl up in it afterwards to paint. Just leave the exposed surfaces to be glued paintless and it should work.
I'm in the process of doing the glassing whilst on its side thing now with my vacationer -I have my cabin on already and didn't want to put it through the stress of turning it upside down fully.
going ok, bit tricky doing the underhanging bits but with the epoxy coat on first and rolling the cloth well in it seems to stick upside down well with a bit of initial support. I have not done any for the last couple of months owing to the colder weather here ( always below 10 degrees © at night) but am looking forward to getting stuck in again soon - so far have completed my transom and two 1200mm runs (from deck to keel -including keel) on the stbd quarter.
cheers Gerrard
I glassed the hull bottom before installing it on the keel. When it came time to put on the sides, I used cheap hardboard/masonite panels to trace and cut out "templates" for the side panels. Then I transfered these template outlines to the real plywood, fiberglassed the panels off the boat and the installed the panels. The joints were rounded and faired and covered in 3" fiberglass tape. I only flipped the boat to paint. Putting glass on vertical surfaces is not too easy, and epoxy runs, also.
Dave
I put a coat of clear epoxy on and then hang the cloth while the coat is still green. It sticks very well. Then a fresh coat of clear to wet and another coat with epoxy with micro balloons to fill the weave. You do have to be careful that you don't trap air if you use the cloth on green method because the cloth does not stretch or move once down. You can pull it all up and put it back down over the green surface but only until you wet it and that is when little air pockets or small folds may occur. I get my wife or daughter to help if the glass piece is good sized. If we do it just right it it goes on very smoothly. I apply tghe epoxy wetting coat with a small foam roller which also prevents wrinkles or bubbles. I found that a blade tool tended to pull the material at times. If an air bubble does happen just slit the bubble with a razor blade and the cloth will lay nicely. Trying to work and air bubble to the egde of the cloth, whether on a green or cured surface always gets me into more trouble with stretching and folds. Others mileage may differ but this is what I found worked for me.
Thanks for all the great feedback and ideas. It's wonderful to be in the BYYB and have all these projects going on. I can't wait to get back to working on the Vacationer first thing in the morning, infact, now that I'm retired, building the Vacationer is my only job unless I'm out sailing my Weekender.
Best to everyone, Herschel