Quick Update

Not too much happening right now because it is too hot to do any epoxy or painting work.  I have cut the cloth for the bottom and side panels and for the transom.  The two halves of the bottom cloth have been laid on and trimmed as you can see here:

Hull Bottom Fiberglass Cloth, Port Side

I have laid the cloth on the port and starboard sides, but when I add the epoxy I will have to temporarily lay the part that covers the keel back on the port side--cloth on both port and starboard sides overlap the keel.  I was unable to get good coverage of the bow stem, as you can see, so I will cut a 4" wide piece of fiberglass cloth to go over it.  I have some pre-made fiberglass "tape" of that width, but the edges are selvedged and pretty thick, so hard to smooth down and feather.  By cutting my own, I am able to pull several lengthwise threads off the edges, leaving threads in only one direction  at the edges, which will be much easier to feather out.

I would very much like to put the cloth for the side panels on now and trim them, but I tried holding them in place with weights and they slid right off.  It's going to be very difficult to get the panels overlapped and aligned properly on the still uncured bottom panels, but that's what I am going to have to do (others have managed, so I guess I can too).  I could wait and add the side panels after the bottom panels are cured and sanded, but the bond is not nearly as good that way and this is a place where a good bond is important.

As I said it is too hot to do any of this now.  We are supposed to have a fairly good cool-down on Saturday, so if that holds I plan to start the epoxy work at about 3 o'clock Saturday morning.  That should enable me to get at least two coats on before it heats up too much--may be able to do three coats.  It is imperative to get the second coat on while the first coat is still tacky, otherwise it would have to be sanded first and that can damage the cloth.  If I can get a third coat on, all the better.  After all that, I'll have to wait for the next cool spell to start painting.  According the weather guy in Oklahoma City, we are supposed to have several cooler cycles this summer.  I hope he's right!

In the meantime, I have started work on the electrics panel:

This panel will be hinged over an opening in the bulkhead forward of the cabin.  Four of the eight switches on the upper right are for electronics and four for lighting.  There are two 12V DC outlets and a voltmeter under the switches.  (I decided to mount the main power switch in the bulkhead near the battery, instead of in the panel.)  The white rectangle on the upper left is an AM/FM radio with USB input for MP3s.  Below that is a VHF radio.  I don't really need it on inland lakes, except to listen to the weather reports, but I may get a chance to sail on Lake Michigan later, where it could be a necessity.  Besides, it looks cool!