Almost Final Fair on Chris' 38 Special

[woodbender]

Well it's been far too long since we've been able to update you guys on Chris' 38 Special. We've ordered and received our fiberglass and supplies from NewFound Woodworks (Michael is an AWEsome guy to deal with) and we are doing final brushup with the 80 grit fairing boards.

Tomorrow night we'll wet her down with water to raise the grain and then graze it with some 100 grit to just knock off the grainy's. I really want to get the epoxy and fiberglass on her but I'm not going to rush head-long into it just because I'm impatient!

Here is the latest photo showing a remarkable tumblehome. Final shaping is done - now it's final fairing. What you see is all rolling bevel - no bead & cove in this project.



And this is why you wear respirators when sanding cedar! Garage doors were both open with a forceful breeze blowing through. The spots you are seeing are not the dust but the resin (crystals) reflecting the flash in Ben's camera!



And lastly we have a shot of Chris with his mind in the gutter (NO I mean gunnels!) Overhead lights are casting weird shadows on the hull.

[Woods Walker]

Good to see it out of the rafters, I know you had concerns about leaving it there stored through winter. So did you see any expantion or contraction or distortion in the hull?

Leaving it all attached to the strongback probably helped.

Can't wait to see it glassed

Troy

[woodbender]

Mornin' Troy

I was pretty careful about stabilizing the strongback before it got lifted last Fall. No apparent twisting or warpage discernible to my eye.

The temps look like they're going to dive again this week so the epoxy might have to wait until the temps come back up.

But maannnnn I want to see how she wets out.

Hey Troy on your 38's bow and stern did you go with all three bias cut strips plus the two wrap arounds like Al suggests in his instructions? Seems like an incredible wad of fiberglass in one spot.

[Woods Walker]

woodbender said:

Hey Troy on your 38's bow and stern did you go with all three bias cut strips plus the two wrap arounds like Al suggests in his instructions? Seems like an incredible wad of fiberglass in one spot.

No I didn't I just went with glass & epoxy to the ends & one piece of bias cut cloth over the top, with serveral layers of epoxy. I know at some point I will probably have to do another piece, but now I can see right where it is needed.... from what I have seen on mine, next time I would do one Bias piece over the entire end & then a shorter one right where the bow & stern bend toward the bottom.... right where your sabot is.

The other thing I learned is to round the points more, where the hulls meet... mine is pretty pointed & that makes the epoxy easier to chip.



Troy

[woodbender]

I've been toying with the idea of rounding more than "a pencil radius" but it just seems that there won't be a lot of "meat" left over at those ends if I do that.

Maybe a fat pencil!