Initial Steps

I’ve decided that the first thing I’ll do is cut out a good bit of the plywood pieces and apply epoxy and glass where I can. I’m lucky to have a good amount of space but it will get small quick when the hull is stitched up. I’m also a little concerned about pieces possibly warping over time. I figure epoxy will keep the wood from warping and having stuff cut out will give more options for storage.

But as someone in the forum pointed out, for pieces that need glass later, this will be a waste of epoxy. Maybe I won’t do this for the big hull pieces.

I have put three coats on one side of all the floors, inside of rudder skins, and insides of the trunk pieces (which have also been glassed). I have also glued up the centerboard pieces.

Thoughts so far…

I wish I had done a light sanding on the pieces first. I hardly even cleaned them really. So I trapped some dust and they aren’t terribly smooth. They’ll all sand out ok but it will take more sanding than I would otherwise have needed.

What I’m glad I DID do is manage my squeeze out well on the centerboard. Particularly the rabbeted groove where the lead weight will go. I used a popsicle stick and just kept coming back every 5 minutes until the glue set and stopped running out. I can imagine this would be a bear to clean up after the fact. And I wouldn’t trust myself doing it with a power tool.