Prepping the bow

 We are getting ready to close up the bow.  I took this photo to try to show how fair the hull is even before fairing.  Not sure if you can tell, but I am pretty impressed by it.  Fairing should be pretty straightforward.  But first we are focused on finishing the bow.

 The process is similar to the stern.  the opening was trimmed to pre-scribed lines (this time I was more careful and it is closer to a flat plane).  I pre-glassed the rough cut foam plate along with the stern plate.  Here you see "Thing" holding the plate for comparison to the opening.

"Thing" also prepared the foam bow cap.  It consists of nine layers of 3/8" foam glued together with urethane glue.  If you use urethane glue, remember to clamp it tight or the foaming glue will distort the items being glued.  No problems here, but I speak based on past experience.  This rough block will be cut to match the opening and then further carved to match the hull and produce a fine bow.  More on this later ...

Stern enclosed on starboard float

 We must be getting close to the finish on this float, since we closed up the stern.  To do this, I started by trimming the stern opening to lines I drew while the hull halves were still in the form frame.  Then I pre-glassed a rough cut piece of foam.  Once the stern plate was fully cured, I applied a heavy bead of putty both around the opening and on the plate.  I squished the plate on to the opening until it made contact on the high points (unfortunately my attempts at trimming didn't result in a perfectly flat surface, but that's what putty is for!)  In the photo you will notice I used three screws to hold the plate in place.  I was careful to not over tighten the screws so the plate remained flat.

While the putty in the seam set up, I moved inside and applied a small fillet of putty around the seam.  This may sound trivial, but the fillet was done partially blind through a small access port (see below).  Later in the day, after the fillet started to set, I taped the seam for strength.  Again, this was not a trivial undertaking due to the difficulty of access.  Nonetheless, with some patience and use of various sticks to reach into the pointy end, I was very happy with the result.

Here is the best view I had of the inside work in the stern.  In the mirror you can see my view of the stern plate from the inside.  Of course, I usually had most of my arm inside, which tended to further reduce visibility.  We are getting pretty good at this type of work, but I look forward to working in the main hull where I fit inside.

Inserts and patches

We glued the high-density (HD) inserts into the holes prepared earlier.  To make them fit just right, we also thermoformed them to better match the hull form.  Then we glued them in place with a thin putty.  Some inserts also got additional reinforcement inside the hull with extra layers of glass to help resist high loads on rigging.  I set some weights on the inserts while the putty set to squeeze out excess filler putty.  As a result, the HD inserts are very fair with the rest of the hull.

In the photo you might also notice the circular patch to the right.  This is one of the access ports temporarily reinstalled.  I figure it will be easier to get a continuous fair surface if we do the initial fairing with all of the holes closed up.  So we are reinstalling the three round ports, deck hatch, and two temporary ports.  The bow temporary port will be closed permanently once we finish work on the bow cap.

 To hold the access hole cutouts in place while gluing, I simply screwed a couple wood plates to the outside surface.  (These wood plates have really been useful, and definitely worth the 6 bucks I paid for a sheet of 1/4" ply.)  Then I squeegee putty into a couple sections of the seam.  Once the putty sets up, the screws are removed and the rest of the seam is patched.  This is only a temporary reinstall for fairing, so no tape or more permanent reinforcing (though I bet these pieces would last forever just as they are).

Once fairing is complete, I will recut these ports for final prep for the Beckson deck plates.  More on this later, but you can get a feel for what it will be like from the photo.

Bow compression beam complete

 We finished installing the bow compression beam last weekend. (Sorry for the delay in updates, I'm sure you could hardly sleep with anticipation!)  Here is a view from the open bow.  We pre-glassed the foam core and then cut it to fit.  The fit was snug, but not so much that it distorted the hull.  Then we glued it in place with a thin putty with some cabosil filler to prevent running.  Once it started to set, I added small putty fillets in the joints.  After the fillets started to set, I taped the beam on all sides to the hull.

The tape job requires a few complex wraps, cuts, and folds.  This tends to cause problems with tape fibers coming loose, resulting in a messy finish.  While looking at other blogs about F-82 construction, I came across a suggestion to cover tape with peel-ply until it sets.  So I tried it, and the result was fantastic.  The peel-ply held the tape edges in place and gave a seamless finish in the transition from tape to beam.  I'll keep this trick in my collection as I continue with the project.  Wish I heard about this idea when we were taping the gussets in place.

Fitting inserts

While the keel seam cured, I spent some time marking placement of deck hardware so I could fit high-density (HD) foam inserts.  The HD inserts allow the deck hardware to be bolted down tight without risk of crushing the hull structure.  The process starts with very carefully marking the location of the inserts.  This is a good time for using the "measure twice, cut once" axiom.  Once I was sure the placement was correct, I carefully cut the perimeter of the foam to be removed with a sharp knife.  Biggest concern at this steps is cutting through the interior glass and epoxy.  We only want to remove the foam.

 Next, I used a sharp chisel to excavate the foam inside the cuts. The foam tends to crush as much as it cuts (hence the need for the HD inserts), in spite of the razor sharp chisel.  With patience and some sharp taps with a mallet, the chisel works through the foam. Again, going slow is worthwhile to ensure the glass/epoxy matrix is left intact.

Here's the hole after the foam is removed and the edges cleaned up.  Next we cut the high density foam to fit.  The HD foam is much tougher to cut than the standard foam.  It is 2.5 times denser than the standard foam as well.  The higher density is achieved during manufacturing through the generation of much smaller bubbles in the foam.

The last photo shows the HD insert fitted into the space where the shroud tensioner pad eye will go.  In areas where the hull is curved, I heated the insert and bent it to match the hull shape.  It took a couple tries to get it just right.  When the weather cooperates again, I will bed the inserts in a thin slurry of epoxy and microballoons to fill any gaps.  In some locations, additional layers of glass also have to be added for reinforcement.  Then the inserts will be faired along with the rest of the hull, and they will become invisible under the exterior laminate.

Long arm to keel seam

 Dawna and I tried to take advantage of the slightly warmer weather (60-70 F in the boat house at mid-day) to make progress on taping the keel seam.  Leo's parents were visiting and they took these pictures (at last, proof that Leo and Dawna actually do spend time together, and Dawna even looks happy about it!)

 With the float upright, it is a bit of a stretch to reach the keel through the access holes in the deck.  The process of taping the seam is similar to that used at the deck seam.  First, I filled the entire length of the keel with a slightly thin putty.  With a little encouragement, this putty flowed into a nice clean fillet and filled all the voids in the seam.  Next, after the putty started to cure, we laid in pre-wetted glass tape along the seam.  Note the tape folded on the deck awaiting installation in the next section.  Also note the stick with a paint brush on the end, used to more easily reach the keel.  (Please try not to note the thinning hair...)  Finally, after the tape starts to cure, we went back and applied a second coat of epoxy to help ensure the keel seam is water tight and durable.

 Here's a good shot of me working inside the bow end with the paint brush on a stick,  Actually, all of my dad's shots look pretty good.  I think I like his camera better than mine.

And here we are in a state of ecstasy applying epoxy with a long stick.  The bow end gets very narrow, which adds to the challenge of applying the tape.

And here is a view of the bow after the seam work is complete. It came out quite nice, and didn't take too long.  We only had a few hours a day before temperatures starting dropping too much to continue.  But we managed to do one stage a day.  Just one step closer to the finish.