Another one in the bag

Got a late start today and went around town running errands and getting more supplies for the vacuum bag. More shop towels, and another roll of butyl tape. The batting hardly wetted out at all on the other piece so I was able to pull some off and reuse it for the next panel. I have left the peel ply and everything else on the panel for now. Give it more time to kick and its protection for the panel on the meantime. I think I'll leave them while the temporaries are in and slowly pull them as the assemble the real bulkhead into place. Seems like I got a little print thru from the wrinkles in the bag, not a big deal these will be buried under hatches inside the boat, and a quick and easy fairing would fix it if I wanted. I liken this to the thin breather I am using with the shop towels and the 6 mil plastic. For panels where I need a nice finish I will probably do batting for breather on the whole panel. Stuff that's hidden I'll go cheaper. I also think better bagging film would have helped. I'm going to use some thinner plastic on the top for the bottom inside panel. Ill also be getting some real bagging film for pulling the outside bottom where I need it to stretch. I can reuse this big for the bottom panel of the hull, plus I have a few feet on the roll left to bag bulkheads and such. I may try to get a cloths iron, and iron a shirt over the plastic to smooth it out. Ill give it a test first.

Got right back into it this afternoon. Strung out my glass to make sure it was the right size, weighed it on the scale. One layer was the same weight as the one on the first panel. The other one was 2 ounces over. Took my prior calculation, added the 2 ounces extra resin, and pre poured all my resin for the whole layup arrannged per sheet of glass. I mixed up my 290 gm bog with silica and glass bubbles and started to roll it out on the panel. Was a little shy at the end so I mixed up another 145gm batch and finished prepping the panel. Then I layered my 45 degree layer on, pulling the bias till it fit. Then i came over with the precut 9oz sheet and laid it over top. Instead of going one layer at a time, I just went for it, since it was only two layers of glass. I started mixing batches, pouring a section, using the spatula to squeegee resin over the area til it wet out both layers. Did that til I had the majority of the cloth wet out, then I started attacking the edges with resin and the spatula. Finally I came over with the roller and the final layers and worked the resin in, wetting out any last sections and moving big air bubbles out. Once I got that done I tried to work quick to fit the peel ply which was on the roll backwards, then lay 2 roll of shop paper towels for breather, with the batting tunnel down the center. Bubble wrap and breather under the fitting, at the head of the bag. I covered my butyl from yesterday with wax paper strips when I opened the bag so I was able to reuse most of the tape. Had to re tape a few sections, but those sections then sealed really easy with double width tape. I had one leak in the center of the bag that was a bitch. It was audible and annoying. Yet I couldn't find it...it was on a pleat in the bag somewhere. I tried butyl tape, packing tape, a butyl taped window around. Not much could stop it. The pump was cycling on like every minute. Annoying... I used the roller to get it to where it wasent making noise and the pump cycled once every 3 min or so. Not great, but whatever, the pump will take care of it. Ill give the pump a break tommorrow.

Tommorow ill Prep the bottom panels for joining, then glue them together on the shop floor while I still have this open space. Then ill stand them up here in the shop till I have an assembled hull shape, where ill try and bag the floor draped over the hull i shape as it cures.

Bag it, Tag it, Sell it to the butcher at the store..

Finally ready to get some stuff done today. Been doing alot of prep the last few days for glassing the panels precutting all sorts of pieces. Turns out most stuff I cut what I thought was big ended up fitting real tight. Luckily the edges will be getting a dish on the bottom and the Top inch buried in the gunnel arrangement. Got up early this am and recruited Michelle as my helper. She made a pretty good mix maestra and helped with wetting out the glass. I weighed all my glass on an old kitchen scale beforehand, and figured out the exact resin needed converted to grams from lbs and ounces. Next, I used my formula to figure out the ratio of hardener to resin...as it mixes 2:1 by volume, but 2:.9 by weight. To make things easy on Michelle, I pre weighed out 200 gram resin batches, and she added 90 gm hardener. For each layer, there was one batch over and one under respectively which were derived from the remaining resin needed to wet out the glass for the given weight. I got all the batches ready to mix in cups, then I mixed a 290gm batch of slurry thickened lightly with glass bubbles and silica. I rolled this on the bare corecell as a bottom layer, then Michelle and I layered out the 45 degree pieces and pulled the bias on the cloth till it was where we wanted it. Next we started mixing the batches and wetting out the cloth with rubber squeegees. She was starving the layup a bit but I came thru with the roller and topped everything off. Next we pulled the 90 degrees layer and seated it on the panel. Again, barely making it, we tugged on the bias a little to lengthen it to size, then wet out with the foam roller. We topped it with precut peel ply the was definatly big, as intended, then layered 2 layers of blue shop towels as breather, topped with a quilt batting tunnel down the bag to ensure I had adequate airflow. The bag was a little tight on the top side by the valve but some packing tape and butyl sealed it up good. Found a few leaks and had Michelle on the roller rolling while I seated the bag. Pulled vacuum and set the controller to pull around 14" hg, the bag was leaking around the top and the resin trap was leaking, almost no chance of pulling resin in, I may just ditch it. I put the fitting off the side under two layers of bubble wrap with batting in between. Looks good. Pump was cycling a bunch in the beginning, got everything sealed up and it was coming on every 5 min or so for 15-20 sec. Good enough for me...I'm gonna try and find a stethoscope to search out leaks better, for now this is fine, the pump will run when it needs to. Got the heat goin out there, should be good. Gonna buy a few dollar store tarps and make a big tunnel tent as a hot box for curing these guys.. More building tommorow hopefully
Chris

Shop work

Good progress today. Been out the last couple days. Skied static peak on Friday, then went fishing on Saturday. Got into a nice fish right in the first bank run. Got her right out of the fast water chasing a streamer.

Today I went over and checked out the new Briggs dory that Jeremy Christensen built. Nice looking boat and great finish work. Chatted canyon with Dobb's who is taking the boat down next week. Got home, and got the vacuum pump working. Turns out I needed to adjust the vacuum controller. Got it holding 20 inches of mercury in the shop which is about the most I can pull at this elevation. Seems to work good. Still smells like propane and bleach when it evacuates but I guess that's how it's gonna be. I did some work around the shop to make my life easier. Built a shelf up on the high supports that were already there to get all the excess glass out of the way. I built a rack to hold rolls right below the work bench. The rolls hang between to support joints on a removable line. There are slots for 3 rolls, and maybe one more. This will make it much easier to pull long pieces of glass off the roll. I also found an old metal tabletop on the side of the garage. I rigged up a joist and a catch so that the table top rests on the support joist held in place. Found an old support in he wood shed about the right height to support the front. Held the two pieces together with a clamp. Instant table, and it breaks down to nothing in about 2 seconds. Should make life much better for the mix monkey.

Ready to start glassing, pump is working and tested. Have all the materials. Start soon!

Right back at it

Got home from the desert to 9" of snow up high. Cold morning too... saw some guys who looked like they had been fishing. boat was covered in inches thick road ice. skiing was awesome! Great north facing powder. Gonna go up high tommorrow and poke around.

Got the pump assembled since all the parts were here. Assembly was tedious but I think I got it done. Plugged it in and the pump kicked on then shut off. The shop smells like a mix of propane and bleach. hope this goes away. when the pump first kicked on it reeked.need to figure out whats up with it. i also realized there were no grounded outlets in the garage. may have to wire something more modern or use an adapter. outlets in the old shop are a mix.. mostly old and sketchy looking. About ready to start glassing stuff.

Moab

Amazing trip to the desert. Moab is my top offseason hangout spot for good reason. Weather was cold, windy, snowy, and wet but we caught some good windows as well. dirt was tacky and nice most places. TiLTED played at eddie mcstiffs as a duo, and we had some good times hanging out in town and eating at all the favorite spots. Great biking, camping, and desert exploring. Ill let the pictures speak for themselves.

Our itinerary
Day 1: Arches afternoon: park avenue, windows, double arch, delicate arch
Day 2: La Sal loop rd drive, slick rock practice loop with friends
Day 3: Moab brand trails with Michelle: Lazy, Ez, rusty spur, North 40, Bar M
Day 4: Arches: Fiery Furnace, Skyline arch
Day 5: Magnificent 7 with friends: Bull Run, Arths Corner, The Great Escape, Little Canyon to Gemini Bridges rd. Finish
Day 6: Negro Bill canyon hike to morning glory arch, Fins and Things radio tower loop (roller coaster)
Day 7: Porcupine Rim: Kokapelli access from sand flats, UPS, LPS, Porcupine Rim
Day 8: Klondike Bluffs with Michelle: Agate loop, Dino Flow out, Klondike Bluffs to slick rock playground out and back, Dino Flow back, Jasper west, Agate East. Afternoon ride of Dave's trail
Day 9: Amasa Back: Amasa Back, Captain Ahab