Recycled bulkheads for a greener boat!

 So after cleaning up the extracted bulkheads, we spent a few hours taping them into the "last" hull half.  Reusing these bulkheads saved us at least a day.  With the temperatures dropping, and a goal to finish the float fabrication by the end of October, every day saved helps.  Unfortunately, I don't think we will meet our goal given the need to build yet another float half, so we will probably shoot for November now.

One plus of scraping the first half was we got to use our new talent of producing perfect filets.  It's amazing how easy it is when you find the right tool.  In this case, the right tool is a 1-1/4" pvc pipe about 3 inches long.  Just pack in the putty along the seam, take a couple passes with the pipe, and clean up the excess putty.  We let it start to cure so it is firm, and then add the tape.

We also used the foam filets on the gussets like we did in the port hull.  In this view you can see how the fillets form a column in the bulkhead.  I also tried vac bagging the gussets ahead of time and reinforcing the edge with a layer of tape.  It came out nice, but it was quite a bit of detail work getting the tape to lay flat.  I may go back to preglassing with the fabric lapped over the edge for reinforcement since we will be installing inside a closed hull.

Of course, the cooler temperatures (40's at night, 60-70 during day) makes the cure take quite a long time.  If you recall, we are using MAS epoxy with slow hardener.  If we finish applying the epoxy in late afternoon, it is generally still slightly soft in the morning.  The boat house is unheated but the sun warms it pretty quickly, so the cure hardens the following day.  We will probably need to relocate our epoxy work when winter sets in, and we are discussing the possibility of getting the medium set hardener as well.