Commander 147

[ebb]

Doesn't Bondo make a LITE version of their stuff?
[Yes, DYNALITE, $10 qt.]
Auto paint suppliers might have it. Paintstores that carry automotive spray paint will have it or another brand. It's all the same stuff really.

Since it sets up hard I would use a plastic spreader (the green ones are the best) to fill the cove. A bendy plastic spreader will produce a flatter fill with a slight hollow. That is, after you stuff the cove you run the spreader at 90 degrees to the hull in the corner, scraping the excess away. After it sets up you can easily smooth the area with a sanding block, and do very minor fairing fill to get it perfect, if necessary.

For what it's worth I would recommend tabbing the corner with epoxy and glass.
Assures the structural join of deck to hull and will stop water from coming through the seam.
Don't know what the shrinkage is, but in a thick form as in the cove I would guess there will be some.
Before covering there has t be a complete cure. MSDS or datasheet. This allows the solvents to subside. That will ease bonding of the next system going over the polyester.

[Commander 147]

But I still have been finding some time for the boat. As the old saying goes where there is a will there is a way.

Ebb I am happy to report that the 1708 biax stuck very well to the bottom side of the deck. I layed 11" wide area on the bottom of the deck and 4" wide on the side of the hull. I cut the pieces into a small manageable size that was only 9" wide. Then I wet out the deck and hull where I was getting ready to put the biax, and then the mat side of the biax. I would stick the biax up with my referance line right on top of the fillet where the deck and hull come together. Then add resin to the exposed woven side of the biax and imediately follow with a layer of 6oz. cloth to minimize the amount of fairing I have to do later.

The first picture is what it looked like after I had the glass in place. It actually went very well.

The next picture is some future planning work I'm doing. Initially I plan to have my halyards terminated at the mast and I will mount a couple of winch pads on the mast for the halyard winches. But as I get older I may decide I want to run them back to the cockpit. So the second picture is of areas that I am making solid glass pads for rope clutches and winch bases.

And since I need to recore the bow area and because I wanted to make a more substantial mounting point for my bow cleat I glassed in the top of the bulhead leading to the chain locker.

[Commander 147]

The piece of wood that was under "Destiny's" mast when I got her was in pretty sad shape and needed replacing. I contemplated a lot of options and the one I contemplated the most other than the decision I finally made was the route Rico took. But in the end since I'm doing a major refit anyway I decided to make a permanent solid fiberglass mast step that has become a part of the deck.

I started out by making a wood plug the size and shape of the step I wanted to end up with.



Then I had to build a piece that recreated the curvature of the deck that I could set on my workbench so I could attach the plug to it and build a framework around it that would hold the casting resin I was using to make a mold for the fiberglass step.



After that I poured in the casting resin, let it set up and I had a female mold that would allow me to make a solid fiberglass mast step. Then I popped out the wood plug and started cutting pieces of fiberglass that would allow me to fill the mold with solid glass. I must have cut between 30 and 40 pieces to get enough to fill the mold. I painted the mold with release wax and started laying up my mast step. After all the glass was wet out I covered the assembly with visquene and then clamped the piece that matched the curvature of the deck to the top of it. After the epoxy cured I dissasembled everything and took out the fiberglass mast step. I used a special solvent that removed any traces of the release wax and then sanded everything smooth.

While I was waiting for the epoxy to cure on the mast step I recored the deck where the new mast step would go with solid glass. And as long as I was at it I made the areas where the forward hatch hinges go through the deck solid glass also.



Then when all the parts were ready I mixed up some thickened epoxy and spread an even layer on the bottom of the new step and pushed it down on the deck. I used the squeeze out to make a fillet around the step. Once that had set up I glassed the entire thing down to the deck. This picture shows it at that stage. The only thing still needing to be done is to sand it then fair it out with some epoxy thickened with cabosil and mircoballons.

[Commander 147]

The little piece of wood trim that came on "Destiny's main companionway hatch did not allow for an easy way to grasp the hatch and slide it back and forth. So I decided to make somethiing for it that was more accomodating to my fat fingers.

This was not a real easy task as I found out when trying to make the new hand hold. The curvature of the hatch is not a smooth radius so I found I had to first cut and shape the bottom of the new piece to match the shape of the hatch. Then 2-1/4" above that point I had to draw and cut a true radius that would allow me to use the top as an indexing point for the 4 router bits it would take me to make the profile I wanted to make.

This first picture is the profile of the new hand hold.



This second picture is the view showing how it looks on the hatch.

[Ariel 109]

Nice work Jerry, I'm impressed!

[Commander 147]

Thanks Ben

You do nice work also. I appreciate the complement.

[Tony G]

Nice work Jerry, I'm impressed!

I'll second that without hesitation.

I never thought about Commanders having core where the hatch hinges attach. I guess you could accuse me of being 'hullcentric'.

[Commander 147]

Thanks Tony

Lord knows I've seen some nice work from your posts also. Hope your cabin comes out the way you want it to this time. Your new chain locker bulkhead is looking good too. Certainly an improvement from the original version. Fiberglass boats have come a long way since ours were built. Some of it good and some not so good.