Ariel #24

Shouldn't ask me anything because I tend to get wordy and boring.

My way: cut and fit the pvc foam and glue in with gelled epoxy. It would not be good if the stuff ran out leaving voids. But voids are not threatening in this case because it's all plastic no wood.

I usually wet out an area so that all nooks get epoxy in them. Then I 'dry' the area with a cloth. Reason is that the liquid will combine with the gel and couild drop out. Fumed silica and liquid epoxy mixed to beaten egg-white consistency is real easy to control. Make a toothed trowel out of those bendy green spreaders that everybody seems finally to have. Put gel on the piece and in the hole. Some squeeze out is good.

Use paper towels to wipe away gobs.
Paste seranwrap over the work, over lapping, Use blue tape if needed.

Often do things in stages with epoxy because it is a superior glue.
Can stop at a stage let it harden, then have an easy prep for the next
Fit a piece of 1/4" ply over the foam (You'll have cut it out beforhand.)
Over the seranwrap ofcourse.*
Spring some battens in place from the sole onto the ply with or without blocks
Even pressure overall.

After set prepare the perimeter. Taper the overlap to receive a couple layers of cloth or a layer of x-matt. If there's a hollow in your foam hole, figure how many layers of glass you need to finish flat. Have ready a bigger piece of ply that covers the glass.

I nearly always wetout glass on mylar or vinyl film. Then peel it off and stick it into place. You can wetout your whole number of layers befor putting them all up. Vinyl, being thick material, you could put under your wetout stack so you are ready to put it into place using the vinyl. I use a sharpie to write instructions dotted lines and arrows all over the xmatt and cloth. No guessing when the heat is on! Have the ply press/backer ready to go up. The vinyl is your peeler, so if you get epoxy hither and yon on the vinyl dry face or the ply it won't matter.

If you have some grooves that didn't fill in the foam stage, mix some gel up just before you are going to slap the glass sandwich to the overhead and push it into any imperfection that won't respond to the up-pressure of the ply.

Experiment with the spring battens and wood strips to get even pressure Before you wet out... got to have them ready.** Spring battens are great because you can apply or loosen pressure easily. Tarp the drip areas!

Hope some of this useful
Another smaller circumference piece of ply instead of wood blocks might be easier to apply pressure with with four or five battens. Trying to mimic the deck camber as close as possible.
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*Had an 'idea' go bad: Put playsand into ZipLock bags for bendy weights on a small 3D lamination being done inplace on the boat. Not only wanted to apply pressure on top but on sides that turned down vertical. Came back to find that the bags had bonded themselves to the epoxy. Totally. I had thought of laying seranwrap on first but got lazy.
Every bag broke and sand spread everywhere on the decks.

Lesson is: seranwrap is polyehylene and epoxy will not stick to it. But not all wraps and bags are made from p.ethylene (SC Johnson). Hefty is made by Pactiv.

**Any port in a storm method. I'll bet there are some quick and dirty types out there that won't bother with sticks. They will drive grabbers through the ply. through the wet work and through the deck on top. Might be easier to finesse the pressure with as many screws as you need. Course you'd have to be careful to fill every hole after backing the screws out!

Alex

Welcome aboard and man, what a beautiful boat!

June and still on the trailer? Ha! How about 2008 and still on the trailer!

You have undertaken a daunting task with a recore from the inside.:eek: Standard convention of peeling off the topsides lends itself well to more comfortable working positions, better ventilation, more room, lots of experience from others to draw on. But you can say you don't have to worry about that wimpy inner skin wobbling all over the place and if you have to butress it against sagging why the heck not just do it from the inside? Plus, this way you get to add to the information pool;)

But on a more serious note, where can I get a pair of those swashbuckling boots? Any respectable Parrothead should have at least one pair.

I feel the need to dreadge up this thread and check on the ole' girl...

Are you there Alex?

Hi Tim
We had a great season last year but this spring, when investigating the one remaining leak in the cabin, I found the strongback was partially rotted from water infiltration through the mast step. So I made a new strongback and added a new hinged mast step. Have not had a chance to post pictures but I will. For now here is one from last summer at anchor near our home.

Wow, she looks great! A fitting backdrop for such a great boat. How much cruising did you do that summer? Also, I'm curious to know what you ended up doing for a rudder repair.