Glassing in the stringers

Finished taping the long stringers

A long and boring job out of the way. The long stringers that extend from the transom to the raised foredeck have been glassed in place. Each stringer required a fillet on each side and then two layers of biaxial tape on each side. Hard on the knees. Four stringers, eight fillets, sixteen layers of tape. Should be pretty rugged. Next I will do the front stringers, then the frames and finally the deck. After that I should begin to ejoy the process as it will be much more wood working and much less epoxy.
I really must add some pictures, but have to take them first!

Glassing in stringers

Yesterday I began glassing in the stringer, four of them which extend from the transom to the bow. They are in two sections and I have been working on the aft ones. First I put all of the stringers and frames in place, then spot welded the stringers to the hull with small epoxy fillets between each frame, removed the frames after the fillets had cured and then could begin taping the stringers in place. To do that I first had to lay a continous fillet of thickend epoxy along the base of each side of the stringer, let that set up and then lay 6" biaxial glass tape the length of the stringer, two each side, staggered two inches. Those babys are solid.

Taping the inside seams

Have begun taping seams, next will come the frames and stringers, lots of biax.

The Flip At Last

Today son James and I flipped the hull of the 22 foot boat we are building. Two come-a-longs and it was a piece of cake. The hull was raised a foot off of the frames, James dissassembled all of the mold and the frames were stacked to one side, stringers slid out, the hull was raised, turned and set into the cradle. Now the interior work begins.

Next We Will Flip The Hull

This coming Sunday will mark a milestone in the construction of FESTIVUS. We have finished all of the sanding, grinding, filling, priming (2 coats) and painting (3 coats). We will flip the boat and begin working on the inside with the hull sitting right side up. I can't wait.