GA28 in Bakersfield California

[jov]

Got the spray rails and strakes cleaned up this week. Took a lot of time but the fillets look pretty nice now. Filled in the screw holes and the spots that didn't get enough thickened epoxy.

I was making so much dust sanding I decided to try out a method of dust control I saw on YouTube. Haven't really tested it to much, but I figure since I need to do some fairing it should get a good test soon. I am not really sure how effective it is going to be but if it helps a little it might be worth it. It didn't cost much and didn't take very long to build so I figure if it doesn't work well, it is not a major loss.

[jov]

I got my strakes and spray rails glassed. It was done on the boat which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I just cut some roughly 50 inch long pieces of fiberglass and used a brush with unthickened epoxy. It would have been easier to do it on saw horses but this way worked out.

I also ordered my bottom paint. After talking to several manufacturers, I decided on Pettit Vivid Red. It is supposed to be a hybrid ablative hard paint that is good for trailering. Hopefully it will arrive sometime around when I finish fairing the hull.

[jov]

I have been working on cleaning up the epoxy and fiberglassing work I did on the strakes and spray rails. Working on feathering the fiberglass for the rails into the body of the boat before fairing. So far I think it is looking alright.

My paint arrived but the primer did not. Part of the same order and shipped together but some how UPS separated them. Not a big deal since I still have some work to do before painting.

My goal is to paint and flip before the end of July. It is really starting to heat up so I may not be able to. Might have to wait until it cools back down a little bit.

[Brian.Dixon]

Looking good ... are you using a carbide scraper?  It's doing a nice job on feathering that glass in ...

[jov]

Looking good ... are you using a carbide scraper?  It's doing a nice job on feathering that glass in ...

I have been using a random orbit sander with 80 grit. I forgot I have a scraper. Thanks for reminding me. That should make this job go a lot faster.

[Todd j]

Carbide scraper is awesome.  I always had the best luck when the glass was cured.  I know some people wanna get on it while it’s green, but it just tore the mesh more often than not, without cutting it. 
  When it’s too hot to “work” on the boat, I liked to pre glass entire sheets of ply ahead of time.   It’s no fun glassing ply on
The boat

[json]

Second the glassing full sheets of ply. That saved a ton of time and work once I figured out that I could essentially glass and fair full sheets and then have what amounted to a finished surface to start with... Plus then all the scraps are already glassed when you start using scrap for various things.

[Brian.Dixon]

Yup ... you can preglass any surface that is either going to be flat, when installed, or on the concave side of ply that'll be curved/bent when installed.  Just don't glass the convex side ... makes it tough to bend the ply!

[Lindy]

Sounds fun, scraping those fiberglass edges. I myself am enjoying my new boat, but having a bit of Boatbuilder Withdraw. Do not know if anyone else who have built a boat like these have experienced such symptoms.

[Todd j]

I have been experiencing withdrawals for a year.

[jov]

Finished cleaning up the spray rails and strakes. Thanks to everyone would said to use a scraper. That really sped up cleaning up the spray rails.

My primer arrived. Now, I should have everything I need to do the bottom paint.

I have started the fairing process. I am using System Three's SilverTip Quikfair. I does a really nice job and sands easily. The heat is slowing me down a lot though. The Quikfair can only be mixed in small batches or it overheats and sets too quickly. I was hoping to finished the fairing pretty quickly, but the amount of extra measuring and mixing is taking a lot of time. It still seems to be curing well and looks good.

Don't have a picture since it looks pretty much the same as it did before.

[Todd j]

Quick fair is awesome.   Gel magic is superb for filling holes.  Especially if it’s for a screw!   Better than any epoxy mixture by far. 

[Brian.Dixon]

Quick fair is awesome.   Gel magic is superb for filling holes.  Especially if it’s for a screw!   Better than any epoxy mixture by far.

Ditto.  It's also impressive how far a small batch of Quik Fair goes ... A metal tablespoon and a round-ended tongue depressor makes the batches quick to make.  The metal measuring spoon cleans easily with acetone.  The side of the tongue depressor is great for scraping off a scoop of the goop so you have an accurate measure, and the rounded end of the tongue depressor makes quick business out of emptying the measuring spoon into a Solo cup.

[jov]

It does cover surprising amount of area per batch but there is a lot of boat to cover.

[jov]

I have finally gotten fairing compound applied to the entire boat. Some of it looks pretty smooth but some of it, like the first picture, is pretty sloppy. We have been in the 100s this week and by the time I got to the end of applying a batch, it was getting pretty difficult to smear around. Guess it just means more time sanding.

The second picture is after I sanded the transom. I tried an experiment. I split the transom into halves. 1/2 I sand with just the random orbit. 1/2 I sanded with just a long board. I was hoping I could use the random orbit sander to save time, but unfortunately for my arms, the long board section turned out really nice. It was so smooth and flat. Next, I sanded a section of the side with a random orbit rough pass and a finish pass with the long boards. That seemed to work pretty well and sped up the process quite a bit. I guess that I what I will be doing for a while. Not really looking forward to long boarding the whole boat, but the results are hard to argue with.