November 4, 2018
I had more ambitious plans for the day than what I ultimately was able to accomplish. I got into some other home-related tasks around the house, and with the time change, I just ran out of both time and ambition. The second half of the work session was down after the sun went down. I don't much enjoy the "fall-back", as I'm more of a "spring-forward" kind of guy. I decided to at least get the new tabbing on the aft surface of the lazarette bulkhead. The tabbing that is currently on the bulkhead looked to be in the 4" width range, and suspect in several spots. The grinding I had done the previous day focused on removing loose tabbing as well as roughing the surfaces that I would soon be laminating on top of.
Anyway, I began by sanding a couple places on the recently ground surface that I wasn't convinced was ready for any further epoxy work. I then vacuumed the surfaces of the lazarette, and then thoroughly wiped the surfaces with a solvent to remove any remaining debris and contaminants.
I measured the length of the tabbing at the bulkhead itself, and decided upon two 39" lengths of 6" wide 1708 biaxial cloth tabbing "tape". To then make it easier to wet out and carry over to the boat, I cut each of those 39" length in half. Seen below, the first of the 39" length halved and ready to be wet out. However, before I wet out the tabbing material, I needed to apply a layer of neat epoxy to the fresh surface within the lazarette. I mixed a pot of "neat" epoxy - straight epoxy resin and hardener without any thickening agent - and then applied it to the areas I would soon be working. My next task was to mix a batch of thickened epoxy to spread onto the soon to be tabbed surfaces to fill any voids that existed. The epoxy resin I am using is West System, and the thickening agents, or fillers, I used tonight are 406 Colloidal Silica and 407 Low-density, microballons. I also applied the thickened epoxy to a few areas in the field of the hull itself that contained voids in the laminate. I used a flexible, plastic squeegee to push the thickened epoxy into the voids and across the surface.
With the surface wet out and the thickened epoxy spread over the surfaces to create a smooth base, I was now ready to wet out the tabbing cloth itself. I mixed a pot of neat epoxy and applied it to one surface the tabbing cloth with a chip brush. I "painted" the epoxy onto the cloth and then flipped it to repeat for the other side.
With the first 39" length of tabbing wet out, I walked it over to the boat and placed the first piece on the center line, overlapping to the port side, with most of the cloth laying on the starboard side. The second piece of the 39" length overlapped the first by a few inches and continued up the starboard side. Roughly 3" of the tabbing lie on the bulkhead and roughly 3" lie on the hull.
I repeated that process for the second 39" length, but this time oriented it to a port-side application. With the tabbing in place, I then worked out air bubbles by hand as well as by using a fin roller. Just forward of the engine/prop well (hole in the hull for the outboard engine), there was a fairly dramatic void that I uncovered after pulling out the rotten outboard bracket. While there was curing epoxy on those surfaces, I used the opportunity to fill the void and apply a layer of 1708 biaxial cloth over it. There will be more work to do in this portion of the boat, and it will be dependent on the owner's wishes for auxiliary propulsion. But for now, the modest rebuild and improvement is satisfying.
Total Time Today: 2 hrs
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