Flipping
over the Piccup
02
June 03: I've
been working daily on the Piccup, and the
hull is coming along well. The other day when
we flipped the boat over after I had grinded
down the epoxy and fiberglass tape, I was
surprised by how much the boat weighed. The
Reverend informed me that I'm on my own with
this one, in view of the weight.
I
have a plan, though. I'm going to made a wheel
dolly so I can wheel the boat out of the garage
upside down and get under to place it on the
rack of the pickup. It's heavy, but not too
heavy.
Along with being surprised
by its weight, I also was surprise and pleased
by its size and shape. I've been wanting a
good sailboat since I started building boats
-- four boats ago. This one will fill the
bill. It has ample freeboard in the sitting
zone. I like that, too. Jim Michalak says
that this boat should take water over the
gunwale before the point of capsize -- a wet
warning instead of a total immersion.
There
has been a lot of cool weather, and the epoxy
that I put on the fiberglass stripes for the
chines, and the first coat on the bottom of
the hull, did not really set up until today,
which was four or five days after I did the
work. Sunday, I took the angle grinder to
the stuff and basically had to grind off the
second application, which was the dregs of
the gallon of epoxy I was working from. It
was cold enough that the hardener had granulated,
and this was reflected in the epoxy on the
hull. It was a mess on the surface from being
pock-marked. I got another gallon of epoxy
and will coat the skids, which I installed,
and the sides, and a second overall coat on
everything I grinded down.
I'm
sold on cutting my own fiberglass tape; it
wetted out much better that the heavier and
more expensive tape. I had very little problem
with unraveling, which I was grateful for.
After flipping the
boat, I installed the second lamination of
the gunwales, cut out the deck pieces, and
put shims on the tops of the bulkheads, which
were about 1/2 inch shy of the top of the
plywood -- don't ask me why, because I don't
wanna know.
Next
steps are to put a doubler strip behind the
forward bulkhead, to strengthen the place
where the mast partner will be bolted; mask
off all the edges and trowel on thickened
epoxy; to paint the interior of the forward
and after air chambers; to fit and install
the deck pieces; to make the forward and aft
hatch combings and hatch tops; and then finish
with the sailing parts.
Cost
so far: Add $30 for the half gallon
of epoxy used so far; $4 for more Elmer's
glue (going to buy a gallon for $10 next time);
$10 for 3M blue masking tape and regular masking
tape; $12 for stainless steel screws for the
skids and gunwales, for a total so far of
$253.18.
Time
spent so far: Add 20 hours for the
work done since the last posting, for a total
so far of 71 hours. NB: I work slow.
