Frej XS

[JohnAbercrombie]

then decide whether to cut the cockpit out before or after glassing?

I would wait until the deck is glassed on both sides before cutting the cockpit opening to its final shape.

 

[mick_allen]

ditto with John: you could score the glass and cut just inside. But any flaws will be hidden by the coaming lip anyway.

 

[BigandSmall]

Finally getting around to an update. House projects and family commitments have taken up my time. I glued up some walnut to make the end pieces and filled a few cracks with filler. After lightly shaping the ends I epoxied them to the deck then shaped them with the plane.

 

[BigandSmall]

When sanding the hull for the seal coat I found the dust from the walnut and the cedar was contaminating the yellow cedar. After sanding everything up to 220 grit I took some 400 grit and my vacuum and just sanded the yellow cedar. This brightened it back up. This morning I applied a epoxy seal coat as thin as I could. Looking like March 2nd for glass. What grit do you guys suggest for roughing the seal coat?

 

[BigandSmall]

Today I washed the deck down in case of amine blush then I gently sanded it with 220 grit. I was careful not to get into the wood and risk contaminating the light colours with darker dust. After giving it another thorough wash down I set the graphics in place and taped them in position. I then masked around them and trimmed the paper with a razor. The graphics are just tissue paper printed with a laser printer. I folded the graphics back, foam brushed on a thin layer of epoxy and set the graphic back into place smoothing it out. I then brushed a thin layer of epoxy over top fully turning it clear. I made the final trims with the razor, peeled up the tape and tipped the edges off with the foam brush. My daughter and I learned on her boat to make the initial coat thin and then to muck with it as little as possible. I sure appreciate how easy it is to make small batches with the West System pumps.

 

[BigandSmall]

Glassing went well. Used a bondo spreader for the first coat and then rolled on the fill coat. There seemed to be a lot of bubbles so I tipped it off with a brush and hit it with a plumber's torch to pop what I could see. I had a close call with the flame in a small spot. Too much heat, a bit of smoke and it briefly went foggy before turning clear again. Using the half roller I wound up putting the fill coat on a little thin and rolled a send thin top coat on a few hours later. Should be just about right to go trim the excess glass off now.

 

[red kite]

Glassing went well. Used a bondo spreader for the first coat and then rolled on the fill coat. There seemed to be a lot of bubbles so I tipped it off with a brush and hit it with a plumber's torch to pop what I could see. I had a close call with the flame in a small spot. Too much heat, a bit of smoke and it briefly went foggy before turning clear again. Using the half roller I wound up putting the fill coat on a little thin and rolled a send thin top coat on a few hours later. Should be just about right to go trim the excess glass off now.

Looking good! I love that magic moment when the fiberglass cloth "vanishes"...

 

[BigandSmall]

I spent a few hours scraping and sanding the underside of the deck today. I really need to order another box of the Festool 60 grit as it saves so much time removing material compared to the 80 grit. While looking at the underside I was thinking about some extra glass for reinforcement. 4oz S glass, a paddler under 100lbs, no cheek plates. Is it worth adding a second layer to the underside from just beyond the front of the cockpit to a foot behind it? There will be a bulkhead right at the back of the cockpit. Or will one layer of 4oz top and bottom be adequate? I added a picture of the cockpit template for reference

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

When you add the cockpit coaming, you will likely be wrapping some more glass around to the deck underside. I think that will make the deck plenty stiff enough.

 

[BigandSmall]

That makes sense and makes life easier. Thanks John.

 

[BigandSmall]

I gouged out a bit a walnut at both ends before glassing. I'm going to do a small end pour at each end so I just scraped out to that point for a little extra weight savings. The glassing went well and I added a couple more graphics on the bottom of the hatches. I also went against the weight savings concept and put an extra chunk of glass behind the cockpit. I was looking the hull over thinking about John's advice and there was just one spot that wouldn't see any extra layers so I added a small piece. Overbuilding won't win me any prizes in the weight department but I don't ever want to worry about strength either.

The more glassing I do I'm liking the bondo spreader for the wet out and then the roller for the fill coat. I find I can get a much more even/level coat than with a brush but that's likely just inexperience. When I do the graphics I use a cheap foam brush. It tips off cleanly and costs so little.

 

[BigandSmall]

Started on the bulkheads too. I wrapped one in tape and one in Saran wrap. Re-using the picture hanging nails didn't go so well. I had a bunch of the heads pop off on removal and few just bent on insertion. This mattered on the one I taped. I had to tap wedges in between to get it to release.

 

[BigandSmall]

Cut out the hatches and cockpit today. Drilled 4 small holes to get the jigsaw blade in. Cuts went well enough.

 

[BigandSmall]

I really came to appreciate those shears today. I used an inexpensive Arrow hot glue gun to tack the pieces on. I also used carpenters glue in the bead and cove. Along the top more hot glue. I tried to back stitch each one together into a continuous bead of hot glue along the top to try to add some durability for when I sand it. The 1/4 walnut pieces near the back of the cockpit mark "aft of seat".

 

[BigandSmall]

Small fillet joint today with a thin seal coat followed later by a wrap of bias cut 4oz cloth. Really debated not bothering with the fillet joint as I see people use them sometimes and sometimes not. Also started sanding the bulkheads.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

Really debated not bothering with the fillet joint as I see people use them sometimes and sometimes not.

I've always found a fillet helps to avoid air bubbles - it's hard to push glass into a tight corner. And it's stronger, too.

 

[BigandSmall]

Well I sanded the inside of the coaming, turned it over and surformed the inner lip down. I then sanded it smooth and prepped for glass. I forgot to cut one of the pieces on the bias. I fought it the whole time before trying relief cuts and then cutting it shorter and putting the next piece on. It really didn't go my way so I pulled the lot off and wiped the hull down as much as I could. I shot John an email for some tips and watched some of Rod's (Orcaboats) youtube videos. Rod used two pieces of bias cut cloth that lightly overlapped at the ends. After what epoxy was left had set up I cut a couple of new lengths on the bias and pre-shaped it as John had suggested before wetting. My wife provided an extra set of hands and it went on easily this time. Lesson learned, I won't ever try to go around the front inside again. I'll fill it a little later tonight.

 

[BigandSmall]

Spent a few hours on the boat this morning. I trimmed the riser down and feathered out the glass from the riser on the deck. It was going well until I sanded through in two spots. Surprisingly it was on the side that I had the better lighting on. Previously I have been able to see when I was just touching cloth. This time I didn't notice until I moved out of the daylight and could see the two holes I made. I then trimmed up some strips of walnut I had bought from Orca Boats for the cockpit rim. I applied epoxy and clamped them on one side. I then applied the glass patch and put a little extra epoxy at the edges. Hopefully it isn't foggy and doesn't change the colour too much.

 

[BigandSmall]

I started making the front hatch pieces today out of some scrap marine ply a friend gave me last year. I ended up having to sand down the outside of the top spacer piece to conform to the outer shape of the deck. I then stuck the spacers on with thickened epoxy and glassed the lower lips and cockpit rim undersides. When I put the fill coat on the lower lips I'll add some graphite to the epoxy.

 

[BigandSmall]

Work and spring maintenance have kept me away from the boat. Got the coaming lips fitted and the end filler pieces in. Sanded the inside of it over round today for comfort and will glass it soon. The front hatch has been taking a lot of time. I made a 3/4" (20mm) wide space for a gasket and then a raised inner lip that I sunk magnets into. Turns out I sanded the deck a little thin so I had to build up the underside of the hatch lid a little. Because I sanded it too thin a Forstner bit center point might have poked through when sinking the magnets into the lid. I ground the tip off the bit which just made it uncontrollable. In the end I used my Dremel and ground out a tracing of the magnet. Once there was a shoulder there I could use the ground down Forstner bit with some control. The first gasket I tried was too thick at approximately 8mm so I ordered another roll of 5mm. It still sat too proud with the Trim-Lok and 5mm on there so there's now a third roll of 3mm on order. Hopefully I get it right on the 3rd try. Using 3mm with also get the magnets closer together for more pull.