Off the Mold!!!

Today I removed all the screws holding the molds to the strong back and my son and I lifted the boat off and set it down on some moving blankets.  The picture above is after the mold halves have been removed and as you can see, it was necessary to use a hammer to get everything out of the interior. (Leave the floorboard supports of course).

I had to remove the top of the strong back and made some supports for the bottom of the boat by utilizing the forms obtained from the full sized Glen-L plans.  I found the corresponding mold station forms and traced them onto new 3/4" plywood then cut them out to leave a cavity that the boat would rest on perfectly.  I added a moving blanket to make sure that nothing gets scratched.

Now I'm ready to start on the interior.

Varnish!

The day before varnishing I washed it out in the driveway to give it one last check to see if there were any areas that needed attention and everything looked good.

After a couple coats of varnish the shine started coming back.  I let it cure for a day and lightly sanded by hand between each coat.  I used a foam roller to apply a thin coat of varnish and then after a section was covered I tipped it with an almost dry brush to smooth it out. This method works pretty well.

It has been said that, "A man once drank a quart of varnish. He had a terrible end but a beautiful FINISH!!"

After all that scraping and sanding it was a relief to see the shine come back better than ever and now the epoxy layers underneath will be protected from UV rays.

Time to flip it over and get to work on the interior!

Getting ready for Varnish

We need a coat of Varnish!

After two weeks of curing the Whitehall has four coats of epoxy over fiberglass cloth and is looking pretty good but it's not finished yet.  Even though the weave of the glass cloth was almost gone after two coats there is a reason why we continued to add the additional two coats of epoxy, the surface was not ready for varnish and will need some attention before we can get a nice glossy finish.

The slow hardener combined with the cool temperatures sure helped to maintain a wet edge as I applied one batch of epoxy after another but it also meant I would have some runs to fix.

That's where this handy tool comes in.

This is a cabinet maker tool called a scraper and it's made from spring steel. It comes with a very sharp edge that can be used to scrape off runs without damaging the flat surface. In a very short time I had all the runs removed from the boat. Here is a picture of the boat after scraping it.

It's looking pretty rough after scraping and with some sanding the surface will become dull again but smooth!

Before sanding the hull I washed it in the driveway with soap and water to start with a clean surface.  Then I rolled it back into the garage and spent the next few days sanding the hull smooth with 120 grit paper then switched to 220 and finally wet sanded out in the driveway again with 320.

We are now ready to varnish!

Applying Epoxy Resin to the Cloth

Since it will require a fairly good quantity of resin, a project like this will have to be done in small batches that are applied quickly.  I was hesitant to dive into this part of the build but here goes...

Epoxy is a two part system consisting of the resin and a hardener.  The length of time it takes to set up can be extended by using a slow hardener so that is the route I took.

The "pot life" or amount of time you can work with the resin depends on the temperature in the work area plus the hardener you use.  Even with a heater in my garage the temperature was hovering around 65 degrees while I was doing this and with the slow hardener I could easily mix and spread a cup of epoxy onto the glass cloth saturating a section then moving on to the next before the previous area had started to set up.

In this way I was able to do one side of the boat in about thirty minutes by pouring on a little epoxy then, by using a plastic spreader, I would move it around until I had an even coat and the cloth disappeared.

In this picture you can see how the nearly opaque fiberglass becomes transparent as the cloth is saturated with resin.  However, after one coat the weave of the cloth will still be visible so you will need a few more coats.  Try to keep it smooth and even while minding the way the cloth is getting pushed around.

Here's how it looked after one coat and you can see I chose to leave the cloth a little oversized and trimmed it back later.

The Whitehall is beginning to shine after two coats of resin and the weave of the cloth is nearly gone.

Here we are after four coats of resin.  Between coats, the resin needs to cure enough so that the surface is not too tacky but not so dry that you need to sand again.  If you apply the next coat before it dries completely you will achieve a chemical bond but if it becomes too hard then you must sand and go with a physical bond.  I was able to get a chemical bond between all coats.

Next up-preparing for varnish.

Fiberglass Cloth

At first glance it seems a shame to cover up that beautiful wood with anything but don't worry, that 6 oz cloth will practically disappear when we cover it with epoxy resin.

Originally, Whitehalls were painted white with a colored strip along the shear of the boat but I've decided to leave mine with a natural finish.

The cloth comes in a big roll and it will have a few wrinkles as it is spread onto the boat so it will need to be brushed smooth as you see in the next photo.

It's a mess at first but eventually with enough brushing it will get like this below.

Sometimes you will have a hard wrinkle in the cloth but you can usually get them to go away by using a circular motion on the weave.  BTW, the first picture at the top of the page is after the brushing is done and the cloth has been allowed to sit overnight.

Tomorrow I will start gluing it down with a layer of epoxy resin.  It's best to put the epoxy on when it's not too cool out and with low humidity which is not a problem for me because I have a heater in my garage.

We're Missing Something!

We need to add an outer stem!  See that notch in the keel?  That's where the outer stem fits against the keel and follows down the inner stem to the top (remember it's upside down) of the boat.

The outer stem, just like the inner stem, is made by laminating strips of cedar and then bending them around a form that matches the inner stem perfectly.  In the photo below I set it in place to see how everything lines up and the next step is to use epoxy glue and 1/4" stainless bolts to fasten it permanently to the keel and inner stem.

In the next picture I have the front stem attached and it's been shaped to come almost to a knife edge except that I've left a flat where a half oval brass molding will be added.

I used a countersink to put the stainless bolts slightly below the surface and filled them back in with epoxy mixed with wood flour.  Wood flour (from sanding the hull) was mixed with epoxy until it was about the consistency of peanut butter and filled in the holes. I also used some of the epoxy/wood flour to fill in a few low spots and faired it back later.

Fairing the Hull

The hull has been completely planked with cedar strips and is ready for fairing which is done with a combination of planing and sanding.  As you can see the hull is pretty good already but if you were to run your hand over it at this point you would find a few areas that need fairing.

Here is another view that shows the graceful curve of the hull and a bit of hand planing has been done  with a real light run over the hull with an orbital sander.  I took care to keep the sander moving and not let the edge of the sandpaper dig in anywhere.

At this point I stood back and took a look at the hull from many angles and made note of places that needed more work.

See that black thing sitting on top of the hull?  That's a long sanding block which was very useful for smoothing uneven areas.  I put a 60 grit sandpaper on it and carefully sanded diagonally across the strips in both directions until I could no longer feel anything but smooth curve.  This was the most time consuming part of the job and I spent over a week doing this off and on until my arms would give out then I'd rest and start again.

Once that was done I went back over it with the orbital sander loaded up with 220 grit paper until I had a smooth hull.  Check it out below.