Topside Started

The past two weeks not much was done. I flipped it, sanded down the excess fiberglass, encapsulated from frame #1 to the transom, and dry fit some wood. The first piece instructed to go on were the coamings. The wood used for this is 1x6, I believe, and about 5' long. It also has a pretty major bend so I soaked both pieces over night and dry fit the next day. This was definitely a two man job as I was constantly taking the coamings on and off to get the perfect fit. I also cut the deck battens, though I cut one too short and will have to make another cut. The dashboard is 12'' from frame #2 and I didn't look far ahead enough to see this.

Here are a few pictures of the progress. I hope to have the topside complete and be able to move onto the actual decking by the end of the weekend. I had previously wanted to African Mahogany king planks with a lighter colored wood in between, but summer is coming to an end I want to be able to have it launched before I go back to WMU in the fall. Therefore, I will be doing the deck as just the mahogany plywood, and then over winter I will install the better looking decking. Sorry for the poor quality on the bottom picture, I took it as I was rushing out the door on the way to class. I'll have better ones up after this weekend.

Fiberglass Complete

I completed the fiberglassing portion of the build and am very excited to put that behind me. I don't think I've ever talked myself up so much trying build some confidence to get something done. I watched the Glen-L video on fiberglassing, about 10 times, which you can purchase from their website along with a book, and used that as my main source of information. I also looked at Art Atkinson's Boat Building Blog for more information, and of course, I took advantage of the Glen-L forum with some questions. As a reminder, I had purchased the Glen-L fiberglass kit for the Squirt.

When fiberglassing, you can use fiberglass tape to cover any plywood joints (chine line, transom to side, transom to bottom, stem/keel), and then do a final sheet over the entire hull. I decided to go with just the sheeting of the hull and not use the fiberglass tape. I went with this decision because the only reason I was fiberglassing was to give the hull a little extra strength, but because I used screws to fasten the plywood panels to the frame, instead of screws, I decided a single sheet would be fine.

I started the process with an application coat of epoxy covering the hull. Next I fiberglassed the transom, with the fiberglass sheet extending about 3.5-4" around the sides and over the bottom plywood. I used the dry-method of applying fiberglass, which was recommended by the Glen-L plans and the Glen-L video. Following this I did the sides, and recruited my dad to help mix epoxy so I would have a steady flow coming to me. When I did the sides, I again had about 3.5-4" fiberglass sheet extending to the bottom plywood. This gave some support to hold the fiberglass up. Finally I did the bottom in a single sheet, as per the fiberglassing plans. I cut the bottom sheet to slightly overlap the side sheets. I also had my mom help during the bottom sheet, to keep the fiberglass smoothed down. It seemed with such a large piece of fiberglass, the sheet kept moving. Before each coat of epoxy or fiberglass I did a very quick sand with 80 grit paper, followed by a wipe down with a rag soaked in detergent and water. This made sure everything was clean before applications.

The first picture shows the application coat of epoxy. It really turned the mahogany a beautiful dark and made me wish I wasn't going to paint, next time I'll be leaving the side natural. The second picture shows the right side fiberglass applied, and overlapped on the chine and the stem,and the left side being fit. The third picture shows the fiberglassing complete. Remember, I have a lot more pictures in my full album linked on the right of this page.

Ready For Fiberglass

This weekend I epoxied and screwed the front panels into place. I had a friend help so I wouldn't be crunched for time, and everything went together pretty smooth. In my full album, located on the right side of this page, you can see I had a bit of a gap between plywood from the side to the bottom. I filled this with wood filler and now there's no trace there was ever a gap. I also sanded down any exposed screw heads, filled them with wood filler, took out any high spots in the wood, and filled the low spots with filler. While waiting for the filler to dry I was able to flip the hull for the first time and trim the plywood overhang. I had been worried that the hull may not have been straight, but everything looked great. I flipped it back over afterwards so it will be ready for fiberglass this upcoming week. The last step I did was to round off all the 90 degree angles, as is need to fiberglass.

The first picture shows the boat flipped right side up with the plywood overhang not yet trimmed. The second picture shows the boat ready, and waiting for fiberglass.

Transom Planking Complete, Front Panels Fit

I made good progress this week by screwing and epoxying the transom panels into place. I also trimmed and  countersunk all the screw holes for the front two panels, which will go on this upcoming weekend. To trim the front panels, I used a wet towel to dampen the side plywood near the transition joint, and then using a blue marker, I drew on the edge of the wood. This meant when I was fitting the bottom plywood pieces, I could simply bend them down to where they met the side plywood, and the blue marker would leave a line for where to cut. I'm not sure if my strategy comes across when explaining it so the pictures should help.

The first two pictures show the marking process I used to trim the plywood, and the third picture shows the bottom plywood completely fitted.

I would also like to add some mistakes I made this past weekend. I originally thought that I could mix up the epoxy, and then do all the gluing and drilling myself. As it turned out, there were far too many screw holes, which meant it took a long time to fasten the rear panels. By the time I was done my epoxy batch had hardened and was unusable. Then, not learning from my mistake, I tried to do the same thing while fastening the front panels but figured I could move a little faster. By doing this I didn't take my time to make sure all the screws were fitting properly in their corresponding holes, and at some point the screws and holes got off by about a half inch, which meant when I was doing the front, the panel didn't line up. Also my epoxy hardened in the process. I broke my number one rule which is to always take my time and ask for help when needed. Well, the lesson has been relearned and I will proceed with caution this upcoming weekend.

Side Planking Complete, Bottom Cut

I have epoxied and screwed both side panels into place. I then sanded down any exposed screws and covered them with a mahogany filler, which was also sanded down after it had hardened. I had a little extra space at the bow where the plywood meets the stem but I was able to fill that with the mahogany filler also. I then leveled the plywood with the frames and made the transition joint for the bottom plywood to fit.  The transition joint is the point where the overlapping plywood turns into a butt-joint, as you move forward. I made mine about 7.5" inches from frame #2. As always, there are more pictures in the Full Album on the right of the screen. 

The first picture shows the contrast between the sanded down filler (left) and the filler that still needs to be sanded (right). It also shows the filler I used in the small space between plywood pieces at the stem. The second picture shows the filler sanded smooth and the bottom planking pieces cut out. The two near the transom are ready to be screwed and epoxied but the front two need to be trimmed still.