Fiberglass At Last

WOOT!!! We got to fiberglass! I am so over the top happy!! REAL progress at last! Not that all of the previous work has not been progress, but by golly...this FEELS like progress!! WOO HOO!!!!!

For those (like me) who have never fiberglassed before, the actual FIBERGLASS part is a multi-step process. If you have been following our blog, you know about all of the previous work we had to do of recoring the deck and preparing the surface. Now in order to actually lay the fiberglass, we have to do PREP work (which I actually thought we HAD been doing!!!). The surface again has to be leveled completely with what I call the mud (it is kinda like Bondo but for boats) and sanded rough.

And remember we cut channels in the coring for the new wires to the lights in the salon? These wires had to be pulled up and laid carefully in the channels and mudded in securely.

I think I have mentioned how beastly hot the weather has been. AND I do absolutely marvel at Shawn's talents and skills. The day that we bought all the cinderblocks for the weighing the coring, we also bought lumber to build a shade awning OVER the deck for when we had to fiberglass (apparently, direct sunlight and fiberglass do not mix). So my MacGyver husband built this shade awning (I simply followed directions as he built this!).

So the mud had to be sanded smooth so no rough edges...Shawn had ME use the belt sander...uh-oh.... :(

Those wires that were to be laid in carefully and mudded over??? In my haste to sand the mud smooth....I sanded the wires!!!

SO I was summarily DISMISSED from sanding duty!!! And Shawn took over and sanded the entire deck.

I was entrusted to vacuum which I did quite well!!! AND let me tell you those two TASKS were completed in COMPLETE SILENCE between us!!!! That was a first!!!

But all is well....I simply do not have the skill set to sand YET....but I will learn to do it properly and well. :)

 So the deck is vaccuumed...now we have to epoxy over all of it to seal the mud and core so the fiberglass adheres.

Epoxy layer is complete. So we now measure and cut the fiberglass!!!! Shawn determined we would lay the pieces port to starboard so we cut four pieces. We dry-fitted them first. Then we lay each piece out working from aft to forward. He mixed the epoxy and catalyst together and we worked QUICKLY to adhere the fiberglass before the mixture set. My first fiberglass!!! I think it came out well...I had to learn to roll and bubble-bust and sometimes I just had to cut where two pieces would join together. We overlapped a bit on the seams of two pieces and we overlapped the edges, knowing SHAWN (not me!!!) would sand and grind where needed after it was set and dry.

So I may need a bunny suit next time since I managed to fberglass much of myself as well!!

The final product looks amazing!!! HAPPY DANCE!!!! We are nearing the end!!!!

And whoever these people are...there were many times during the day when we were VERY tempted to head up the road to their CRABFEAST!!!