Do you remember this butt-head hole?
Well it's gone. GONE I said!
The world may rejoice for the Minifish has two less holes than she did yesterday. These freshly closed holes are official, sealed, certified, and guaranteed to contain no trickery. And the bridges are working as well as I had hoped.
After two filled holes, progress came to a screeching halt for a several reasons:
1.) The weather (it's hot)
2.) The time (when the shade is gone, it's hot)
3.) Quantity of brushes (my kit has two brushes and I need 5 more)
Well, I wonder if the Minifish is beginning to feel renewed and hopeful. Fiberglass isn't as scary as I had predicted*. You have 10 minutes or so to make sure everything is where it needs to be before the epoxy has made progress from its initial liquid form.
The backing I'm using requires multiple test fits to make sure it sits flush for the fiberglass. A little trim here, a bend there...it all takes time. Brushing epoxy onto the cloth is the easiest part.
So, without further adue, now visible to the public eye, one of what used to be a hole, the peacefully co-existing, the un-narly, the sweet and rehabilitated butt-head hole... may I present to you Mr. Fancy-pants-Fiberglass-Patch:
Do not take offense that Mr. Fancy-pants-Fiberglass-Patch does not take a bow. He's been instructed to remain still.
Okay, seriously now... I have plenty of finishing work to do. In this picture, everything is still wet. The guitar string is holding brilliantly and easy to manage. Tomorrow, while waiting for brushes to find their way home, I'll move this hole to Step 4-finishing- and put down some filler and begin to finish and smooth this over. The plan is that once gel coat is on and polished, you wouldn't know there was ever a repair. It's entirely possible. It requires time and a little bit of an obsessive compulsive disorder. The challenge will be that bend. It's easy to make something flush with the old surface. Reproducing that bend will be difficult. It's all work by hand. You can't use a power sander for this.
* pending a leak test
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." -Kenneth Graham
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