Glass Is On!

February 28, 2015 Hours spent building to date: 756

Ray and I put on a burst of speed and got the whole boat done this week. Same old learning curve story — I could do one panel myself in about three hours. When we started, Ray and I could do one in about two hours. Finished at one panel per hour.

I spent the rest of the week rolling on filler coats and sanding — with a lot more to go and the inevitable fairing likely to fill many days.

Our speed was undoubtedly helped by Ray bringing over his hibachi for a gourmet hot dog buffet. We were joined by Wally, a metal-working magician who restores Saabs and unbends hurt mag wheels in the shop next door.

Ray really helped on the glassing — having someone to mix epoxy and help with the sides while I hung by my toe-nails on the boat squeegeeing epoxy saved a lot of time.

So far we’ve used about 11 gallons of epoxy on the glassing, much more than I anticipated. When I got the first big vat of the stuff, it was all I could do to lift it, and I thought, “Well, that ought to do it. Maybe a couple gallons more.” But now the UPS man brings a batch about once a week. Each shipment of epoxy and hardener runs $650, so we’ll have burned through about $2,000 worth by the time all the fill coats are on.