Decked Out

Completing the sanding on the aft two compartments has led to exciting developments in this area.  Above the mahogany aft deck stringers are fitted and resting on the deck beams.

The aft decks are fitted and attached to the stringers by screws.  Much work remains before the decks are epoxied in place.  The interior surfaces will receive two epoxy coats as well as paint before installation.  The light stringers create a deck that is too springy for my taste.  I'm considering an additional deck beam to better support the longer stringer span.  This led to an attempt to enter a hull and take some under deck measurements.  I placed a piece of lumber under the skeg so my weight would not over tax the hull rotation arrangement suspending the hull from the ceiling.  I climbed onto to a chair and placed one foot into the hull.  This quickly proved to be a less than wise idea as the hull started to rotate with my foot pressure.  A stupid accident story was averted.  Any additional deck beams will have to wait until the hulls are resting on cradles.  

Above is a view through two compartments forward of the dark aft bunk compartment.  These two compartments have the bulkheads tabbed to the hull panels with fiberglassed fillets.  Epoxy fillets are also applied on top of the stringers and along the sides of the butt blocks and backing pads.  The fillets on stringer tops will prevent condensation and debris from collecting in the lower hull panel end grain.  The butt block and backing pad fillets are just to give the hull a more finished appearance.  The above image shows the finished fillets and fiberglassed areas after three days of sanding.  Three days of sanding are ahead to bring the second hull to this state of completion.

Much of my time is spent sanding so I'm doing what I can to make it easier on myself.  I've made two radiused sanding tools to shape raw fillets and a small sanding block for flattening areas.  A piece of neoprene foam conforms to many shapes when wrapped in sand paper.  I've stock piled sandpaper cut to fit the various tools.  Initially the sandpaper was attached with hot glue, but this was not satisfactory and it took a while to change the sandpaper.  Staples are now used to attach the sandpaper.  A groove is cut under the areas where the staples are applied.  This arrangement keeps the staples below the sandpaper surface and prevents the staples from scaring the work.

Possibly my readers find all this talk of sanding tiring, I find it makes my fingers sore.  I've taken to wrapping my finger tips in tape so the bones don't start poking through.  Above is a fiberglassed fillet in the finishing process.  The area below my hand has been finished, the fiberglass edge is blended to the adjacent material while the surfaces are flattened and abraded for the painting to come.  A newly fiberglassed edge is lumpy with sharp skin tearing points that must be removed.  Great pressure and fine control are possible using the sanding block's smallest face to knock down the fiberglass edge.  The block is held at a slight angle to taper the fiberglass edge and blend it in.  Above my hand is an edge beginning in the tapering process.

With a few days of sanding I will have over half of the boat's compartments "finished".  The compartments ahead will be come more involved with designing and fitting two hatches in each hull.  It is likely only be a break from sanding rather than an end to sanding.