Moonfish Build

[fishin']

I got the two chine seams rounded over and taped this week. Hopefully I'll get the keel and transom done this afternoon. Then maybe I can do the bottom cloth this weekend with a helper. Anyway, here are the pics.

[bratzcpa]

Your boat project looks awesome - I enjoyed reading of some of the exact same "issues" that I am seeing on my first project too.

What do you think of this: http://cgi.ebay.com/LATIN-SAIL-KIT-RIG- ... 2310ccae7e


The mast seems pretty "wimpy" at just 3 cm wide. But even if you'd use a stiffer pole for the mast, you sure can't beat the price for the rest of this stuff.

I'm doing a D5 and am starting to look for sail components - interested in your opinion(s).

~markb

[ks8]

Ah... this thread needed a bump. How goes the build?

[fishin']

Hey guys. Unfortunately there is not much progress to report i've been pretty busy with work. Now, I am starting to build a new home for my wife and I. Hopefully when that is completed in 6 months or so I will get back to it. I should also be ble to move the boat to my new house which will substantially increase the amount of time I can spend working on it. I'll keep you all updated.

[ks8]

I think you're just trying to beat my record for how many years per foot length of boat, for the build time.

Wouldn't mind a picture of the new roof...

[fishin']

Thanks ks8. I hope i dont break any records but it is almost looking that way. I got the keel seam taped along with the transom and also glassed the bottom. Wet on wet with a big sheet of fabric is pretty tricky but i got it done. Hopefully my next progress wont take so long. I think were up to about 29 hours.

I cant get the photos to post with the ipad but they arent that exciting anyway. I'll put em up later.

[bondo]

The hull picture above looks great. It looks very fast and fun to sail. Nice work Fishin'.

[fishin']

I'm worried that i might have created a problem while laminating the cloth on the bottom of the hull. When wet I couldn't see any of this but now that it is dry there appears to be air pockets underneath some of the glass. There are a only a few big spots like pictured, but along the tape there are lots of tiny little areas where the fabric seems to be floating above the grid of the tape. It has been wet out but it is just floating. What do I have to do to fix this?

[ks8]

What kind of finish were you planning? Are you going to be fairing the hull?

If you are going to fair, you could *carefully* sand out those areas (or dremel or grind, then sand), reseal it with epoxy, cure, scratch up the new sealing cured epoxy a little for *tooth* and then fair. Small areas like that should be alright on this hull to be finished in that way. You will still have plenty cloth over the entire surfaces protecting things.

I had a few areas like that on my railcaps, but my problem was a little different because the railcaps are finished *bright*. To remedy the problem on them, I ultimately had to sand off the glass in the areas where the doug fir was gassing out and causing bubbles each season in the sun.

http://gallery.bateau2.com/thumbnails.p ... 202&page=6

You might have put a little too much epoxy on the cloth that overlapped the cured tape seam. The excess epoxy did not then *soak into* wood beneath, since there was a cured glass laminate beneath it, and the glass cloth floated up on top of the excess epoxy. I had this too in some small areas, being inexperienced with wetting out with epoxy. I didn't get air bubbles trapped.... I squished all those out with a stiff chip brush... but before the epoxy cured, I had slight bulges in the cloth by the time it cured, because the cloth floated up, as epoxy gathered under the floating cloth in small dime to quarter size areas. When I sanded prior to fairing, it made dime to quarter size areas where the cloth was completely removed, in maybe half a dozen spots. I sealed, cured, scratched for tooth, and faired over this and have had no problems at all in those areas, for several years of use.

If you want to absolutely have glass coverage there, grind out the larger bubbly areas, and put a glass patch over it with about 2 to 3 inches overlap, and then you'll need to fair that to feather the *bump scar*. I had one here, and the fix is doing fine... start at the 5th picture in. Since this was the bottom, I wanted the assurance of knowing the entire bottom, everywhere, is protected by glass, and that the football patch (that was causing the high spot) would not one day break out. Ah... the joys of working with cheap wood... NOT

http://gallery.bateau2.com/thumbnails.p ... 44&page=10

Larger bubble areas may bulge and delaminate if they get hot in the sun over time. A few tiny bubbles in an area where the hull will never get *hot*, should be alright, but again, if you want absolute assurance, you can clean it up and patch and fair. I have a feeling there are areas worse than that on quite a few hulls, that are doing alright, but the *peace of mind fix* is not difficult at all.

[bondo]

I like what Ks8 said. Don't worry about it at all. The seams look very strong. Finish sanding will tell you more about which areas want some attention. Fill them and paint. It will look and perform great.