Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 3:32 PM
Subject: Matt Krick Hunky Dory update
9-16-02
The fiberglass is finally on. I put one layer of 10 oz glass on the sides of
the boat and two layers of 10 oz on the bottom. All joints are double lapped. I
bought the book and video on "How to Fiberglass" both were very
useful and helpful in the glassing of my boat. I found glassing not to be too
difficult. I glassed both sides first, then did the bottom, and finished with
the transom. I'm not sure the order makes any difference. I then put
several coats of epoxy with filler mixed in. I used microballons and fumed
silica. Seamed to work well. Not to hard to sand. After all the coats of filler
were put on I sanded the entire boat flat. Took me about 4 full days of sanding
with a 1/2 sheet electric finish sander. I would sand the sides of the boat and
then check my work by wiping the side of the boat with water to give it some
shine. Then I would look down the sides and look for imperfections. 
When I found a problem area I would circle it with a
pencil and then either fill the area with more epoxy, or sand it down some
more. Wetting down the area with water really seamed to show the problem areas.
After all the sanding was done I bedded the bottom battens in epoxy and glass
tape. Those went on without any problem. Then yesterday I put on the spray
rails. Here is a little trick I used to put the spray rails on. The instruction
call for the spray rails to be attached from inside the hull using 1"
screws. What I did is attach it from the outside using 1 1/2" sheet rock
screws. I screwed all the way through the sprayrail and hull. Then I went back
and removed the sheetrock screws one at a time and put a new silicon bronze
screw in from the inside. The sheetrock screws have a smaller diameter then the
bronze screws. It worked great. If anybody sees any error in my thinking please
let me know. I'm now ready for primer and paint on the bottom side. Soon as
we get some dry weather up here on the Washington coast I'll go do some
finger painting. I have some new pics of my progress. I'm the one with my
head sticking up out of the boat. The other two guys are my faithfull helpers
and fishing pals.
Thanks
Matt
