Well,
I got the last coat of resin on the outside of the boat, got the boat off the stations, and outside so I can actually look at it. Its been in a workroom I built that is barely bigger than the boat. I put colored resin on it just to get an idea what these boats will look like when I start getting them out of the mold I will build with this prototype. It is NOT perfect, but its *$!@(*& good enough for now. Man, have I learned some hard lessons building this. As I have progressed, I have come to the conclusion that I took a difficult process and then made n-10th-factor harder. The glass I bought online was simply listed as '6-oz cloth' so I bought 25 yards of it to do the boat. What I didn't read in the fine print is this stuff is 45 thread count. Its like canvas. It is an absolute @&$%$*&, **((#*@@, @@@****!! to work with. But I bought it, so I used it. Won't do that again. My only hope is; now that I've beaten this stuff into submission, and hopefully my boat will be quite strong. If I'm delusional on this point, feel free to leave me in that state.
I don't want to know. Some folks on here already heard about my experiences using lacquer to prime the wood (thanks to an old cedar-stripping manual) that was fun to sand off. Won't do that again, either. I bought some bondo to shape some parts that was apparantly past its due date, it never really went off right. Scraping all that off with a razor-blade was AWESOME! Next time the bondo doesn't turn bright red, it doesn't go on the boat.My playlist on my ipod now includes 'Don't worry, be happy' 'It's alright' '5-dollar fine for whining' and most importantly a little tune by Guns N Roses called: 'Patience'. I advise anyone else with aspirations to get into boat-building to add these songs to thier own playlist.
On the upside, I have some wooden gunnels already bent, shaped, sanded, and stained to go on this beast. They're doug-fir, but that's OK, they don't have to last...though I've built doug-fir gunnels for a boat before and they lasted for several years. Plus, total investment on the gunnels? $7.68 US dollars. I'll take it. I've also ordered some glass with a much lower thread-count for when I'm ready to do the inside. I'm not messing with this canvas-ish stuff again. The next pictures I post will be when I have the inside finished and the gunnels and thwarts installed. Thanks again to Roy, John Kaz, and everyone else who shelled out advice and encouragement! I took a lot of each for me to make it this far. I am in your debt....a long, looonnng, way.
-Rob
