And the painting continues

After the fourth coat of Whidbey White, the dark colors of the wood arent showing through. So, the middle section is basically done... except for the sheers, which will be painted Sea Foam Green.

With this section finished, I re-installed the stainless steel grab handle onto frame #2.

It may be hard to discern the difference in the photo... but thats 4 coats of WR-LPU Whidbey White on the right, and only 2 on the left. I didnt see the point in painting 4 coats in the forward area, as it will be covered by the deck.

The next step will be to either begin assembling the seats, or finish applying the 2nd layer of epoxy to the aft section. Im not sure which Ill do.

Aft section needs a 2nd coat of epoxy before painting.

I also found some Sea Foam Green registration decals online & ordered them. I hope theyll match the bottom paint reasonably well.

These are the decals I ordered. Im looking forward to seeing how they look.

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The Utility Fiberglassing continues

I left off at the last post discussing "feathering" the edge of the fiberglass-covered area. This is simply sanding the edge down in order to have a smooth overlapped seam when you add the next, neighboring section of fiberglass cloth.

With 70% of the boats bottom covered, I feathered the forward edge of the fiberglassed area. I also rounded over the sharp edge on the bow. With this done, I was ready to add the next section of fiberglass cloth: covering the forward bottom on the port side of the hull.

It went very smoothly. Again, I highly recommend Ken Hankinsons book How To Fiberglass Boats, as it (and the accompanying DVD) make the process very easy to understand. 

Working alone, its difficult to photograph the fiberglassing process because Im mostly preoccupied with handling the epoxy (which I dont want to get all over my camera with messy, gloved hands). However, this time Ive tried to better show what some of the stages look like:

Photo from the previous post, showing the partially-feathered edge at the chine transition joint.

The same area after the new section of fiberglass cloth was added. On the left, you can see the edge of the new overlapping section. This will need to be sanded as well, to make the overlapping seam smooth.

Feathering the edge that has overlapped the bow.

Feathering the edge that has overlapped the bow.

Fiberglassed transom, after a 2nd coat of epoxy (squeegied meticulously) to fill the weave of the 6oz fiberglass cloth.

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