Step 4- check

It was 68 degrees outside, the sun was shining (apparently oblivious to what weather forecasters had predicted), the clouds looked friendly, and so I thought, "What a fabulous day to finish up the fiberglass!"







Behold the task for today!





The Minifish was so excited to see me, I just know.

The first image shows a repair that needs yet another pass with filler. Remember last time I had mixed it fairly thick which is why there's a few "pot holes".

The second image shows a fiberglass patch which needs a little more to bring it flush with the original hull (lower right side of the patch in the picture). The curve of the hull made it pretty difficult for me to get it right. But this is the great thing about fiberglass-mistakes are easy to fix. Yes fiberglass seems rather scary at first, but nobody is lying to you when they swear that it's a very easy material to work with.



I braved the old man at the store to purchase the supplies I used today:




The old man in question likes to answer questions I didn't ask and pats me on the head, smiling as if I have no idea what I'm getting into.

Anyway.

The pumps you see in front of the metal containers are a blessing. They're only $10, they work well, and give you a perfect ratio of hardener to resin. Well worth it. They come with extensions to fit size A through size C West System containers.

Okay, on to business...

Thankfully, the hardest work of all had already been done which is patching all those holes without being able to work from inside the hull. So this will be short and sweet.
To finish the patch near the bow and ready it for filler, all I needed to do is roughly cut the cloth to the shape, mix the resin and hardener and apply. So that's curing for now.

The rest of the patches needed filler and the filled patch I had shown above needed one more pass.
When I had used the fiberglass kit from West Systems, I really liked the 407 filler. It was easy to apply, easy to shape and sand, I was already familiar with it, so I decided to use it.
I mixed it to a ketchup like consistency and was able to fill all 7 or 8 patches before it started to set up without working feverishly.

Here is the patch with two passes of filler:




My feelings aren't hurt if there's a little sag. Just as long as the hole is filled. I can sand drips pretty easily.


And here is a patch which is close to a corner:


I suspect this will be the bane of my existence later on when I attempt to make it look pretty.


So, I will wait for it to cure. There were a few I forgot to wipe off with acetone prior to starting. I hope it'll be alright.
Tomorrow I'll throw filler on the patch near the bow. After that cures, I'll bring out the sander and probably find spots I missed. I'll update this post with pictures.

After that is finished, it'll be time for gel-coat!

"O God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small."