Finishing up!

I purchased a 10x17 portable garage at Harbor freight. Two overhead 2x40W T-12 light fixtures is providing light. With a good 3M solvent rated mask it is fine despite the small volume. 

I still had to finish up the bottom. I thickened the bottom shell with a layer of 1.5oz mat and resin that i filled with Poly-Fair from Merton's fiberglass. I let it overlap the keel with about 4" on each side to provide reinforcement when its on the trailer. 

Here is the area where the gunwhale had to be rebuilt after filler and fairing. I did not get it as hollowed out as the original but its not visible unless you are in the water:-) 

The finished bow. This was a lot of pain but it turned out pretty good! 

Masking the waterline. I rolled the bottom paint and the primer so i only used a single strip of tape. After i put one layer of  bottom paint and two coats of primer and topcoat i pulled the tape and taped the very edge of topcoat leaving about 0.020-0.040 of topcoat sticking out that a carefully sanded to a taper before rolling the last layer of bottom paint. I rolled one layer just where the tape had been and had that dry before roling the whole bottom. One full can of Rustoleum was exactly what it took. Next tome i will put on the first layer thin and keep the roller tray with paint in to avoid the "running out of paint stress"

One layer of primer and one bottom coat. I tried the Harbor Freight HVLP sprayer kit but it was useless! A roller gives better finish..

Two layers of rustoleum topcoat. This i used Home Depots $49 Husky 4CFM HVLP spray gun. Worked way better. I only have a hitachi pancake compressor rated 4.9 cfm at 40psi but it worked fine

Pulling the 3M mask tape (the new thin edgeblock type) worked very well. 

Flipped over, wood installed, engine hanging!

Ready for the water. 

Back in the lake!

Graduation for non-graduated measuring cups

Express composite sold me some nice PET graduated mixing cups. I severely underestimated how many i needed so about half way in i was forced to use non graduated cups that I filled using my last graduated cup. Way messier than I liked... On a trip to Wallyworld last night i found that they sold Solo cups made from PET also so i bought a bag thinking i could measure with the fancy graduated cups but mix in the reusable one. The regular white/red ones does not work since the styrene melts them PET seems to hold up well..

SOLO cups from Wal-Mart.

Made from PETE. 

What struck me was how well they nested so then i came up with the idea that i could use a graduated outer cup as a scale and reuse that.

I put a strip of masking tape on the outer cup and then i dropped an empty cup inside. Using a graduated cylinder i filled the inner cup to 50, 100, 150 and 200ml and marked each level with a permanent marker

I like to use ml since the syringe I use for the MEKP is also graduated in ml.

When mixing resin i drop a fresh cup inside the template cup and fill to the mark before lifting it out and adding catalyst.

150ml fresh resin...

After using most of it i left about 30 ml to harden in the cup and it seems totally unaffected

General hull repairs.

I have been altering between structural reconstructions of the bow, the bow eye and now the gunwale with general patches of the hull. I'm getting pretty close to done underneath. (or at least done with the repairs, I still need to glass over the bottom. The laminate is to thin and I need to be able to handle some rock interaction while crabbing.

Most of the ideas on how to work the mat and resin I got from Andy Miller and his blog/youtube channel  Boatworks Today. http://boatworkstoday.com/

I also got a lot of good advice and suggestions from the guys at Mertons fiberglass. http://www.mertons.com/  Most of the material I got from them and from Express composites.

As shown in the picture there were quite a few patches done over the last 52 years..

Bottom is getting close to be ready for a coat of glass.

Most of the repairs were not undercut as whaler instructs but simply cut out using a abrasive saw and then patched and covered with weave

This is what one find after peeling of a few layers of glass.. I wish the dude could at least have tried to put the cutting blade on the side and at least tried to blend the repairs..

Typical hack repair.

About 2 minutes with the multi tool and the orbital sander, 15 minutes of messing with mat and resin and then sanding and filling with some more mat and glass and it looks like it is going to hold up.

Finished repair of the repair.

Most patches I digged out the foam and filled with new 2 lb foam that I got form Merton.  The vinyl resin does not cure against moist foam and if there has been any ingress of water it is hard to be sure that it is dry. It is also very fun to play with the foam.

Fresh foam sanded down with 36 grit on dewalt orbital sander with vacuum hose attached.

After I get the foam flush I sand it down a little and then I undercut with the carbide sanding blade on the multi tool.

The edges are undercut with the carbide tip on the multi tool. (this is actually an area where I did not re-foam.)

Laminate laid up, as you can see there are some voids, Those are ground out using a small disc sander and filled with Merton's Deck and Hull putty (milled glass and vinyl resin). http://www.mertons.com/Epoxy/polyester_Resins/putty.html
After i started to use this putty  as filler i realized how well it works filling under the glass lip when fixing holes . Its much better than trying to make mash of csm fibers.

After sanding and possibly a few more layers the patches blend in very well. 

Gunwale repair

A section of the gunwale did not have the groove and was obviously repaired. I thought that someone had just repaired a crack by filling the groove under the gunwale but boy, were I wrong..

Port side gunwale after initial sanding.

My game plan was to grind down the groove and recreate the shape using deck and hull putty but as soon as I put the grinder to it I again found wood...  

It is basically a piece of pine bridging a section of the gunwale.

 To remove it I used my trusty multi tool from Harbor Freight and after cutting into it in multiple locations I was able to remove the wood. Under the wood there was a layer of what can be filler or possible the stuff whaler join the hull and deck with. Not really sure.

Wood, moist foam and grime removed. Now I will put the heat lamp and fan on it for a day to make sure it is very dry. Then i need to test bond against the gray stuff.

After chipping off a piece of the gray stuff I learned that the "gray stuff" is not Whaler matter but a rather soft filler that is not that well adhered to the glass under it. It also became evident that the to of the gunwale had a layer of weave on top.

It seems like the repair was made by sticking the wood to the side, filling with gray stuff and put weave over it..

Teh old filler was possible to remove it by slipping a knife under it.

Who would have guessed.  More Weave...

After removing it i sanded the inside and cleaned the foam. One thing i learned is that a multi tool is great for sanding backsides of laminates.

Sanding of backside of glass. 

This removes all old foam and gives a better substrate. The triangular carbide tip is the tool i like best. Its very aggressive and it works very good in undercutting the foam and cleaning the backside.

Carbide sanding tip from Harbor Freight

Junk removed, now it time to figure how to build the structure back up.

All cleaned out and ready to build on. I don't care about the outer part that is a poorly adhered layer of glass weave.. That will be ripped out and glassed once i flip her over.

To build up the perimeter i took a piece aluminum angle of the silly-putty material home depot sell. I flipped it upside down and formed it to the starboard side.

Aluminum angle flipped over and formed to the gunwale on the port side.

Once i put this on the port side i will have a matching shape. I will paint the inside with PVA and fill the gap with fairing compound before laying the glass.

After the PVA dried i clamped the aluminum angle to the gunwale and filleted the inside corner with Merton's Hull and Deck putty. This hopefully prevent eggshellling when i lay up the glass and makes it easier to sand. Its non waxed so in a way, its like fiber filled gelcoat.

Merton's hull and deck putty is a fibrius filler that seem to stick better than the stuff i tried to make from CSM rippings recommended in the old whaler repair instructions that are floating around.

Here is the aluminum angle in place.

Here is the filleted corner. I also smoothed the underside of the weave. I will be sanding into this later but laying the glass on a smooth surface will reduce the risk of sanding through

After the Hull and Deck putty had hardened some i laid in three layers of 1-1/2 oz mat. I let the mat go slightly above the mold rail. Thanks to the fillet i made from the putty it was quite easy to wet the mat even in that tight spot.

After i got the glass done i created a dam with tape. I use 3M's outdoor masking tape, its fantastic to work with.

My first foam test was with 2 lb foam but that wad not hard enough so i ripped that out an bought some 6 lb foam from Merton's fiberglass and tried again.

I first poured a thinner layer of foam and while it was expanding i was managing it so i had some holes where i could inject a second batch so it could expand up under the glass of the side.

 

After it was fully hard i formed it to match the old gunwale.

The new fresh foam ready for undercutting and glass.

In this location and with the hard 6 lb foam under I did a lesser undercut. For this I used a sharpened bent screwdriver that I removed about 3/8 wide, 1/8 thick layer. I then sanded it with a folded 40 grit paper.

The sculpted foam undercut for the Morton's Hull and Deck Putty.,

Before adding glass I filled the undercut with the Hull and Deck putty. It would been terrible hard to work with the SCM strands in this place. Maybe a mash made from 1/4" chops could work but this stuff is very strong and is easy to work with.

Undercut filled with Merton's Hull and Deck Putty.

As soon as I filled the undercut I mixed up a batch of Vinyl ester and laminated 2 layers of 1-1/2 CSM over it. My plan is to sand this and then put two more layers over it.

Repair covered with the first layer of CSM.

After wetting out the mat I used a regular roller to compact the CSM. I wish I had a corner roller at this point.

Rolling down the CSM around the edge.