Progress Continues

I think I made good progress today. I met my stated goals (see here), and I sanded down one side of the messy fiberglassing of the bottom butt joint and the two sideboards, and re-glassed each with a new, clean layer. Fred had sent me a follow-up to his earlier e-mail, and advised me to slice open the "hinged" joint with a razor blade and fill it with the sawdust/epoxy mixture. This I did.

I took a couple of pictures of the fiberglassing process. First, here's the roll of fiberglass itself:As you can see, it's very pliant - it's very much like regular fabric.

Here's the epoxy/hardender mixture:
And here's me, actually fiberglassing:Photo by Henry
That's me working on the sheet that will ultimately be the bottom of the boat.

I have the bottom sheet set across four sawhorses, which I made perfectly level using my iLevel app on my iPhone. On top of that I set the two sideboards, side-by-side. I then put a two foot 2x4 lengthwise across the stacked seams, and weighted it down with big rocks from the garden bed, to make sure the joints are as flat as possible. Because it's spring in Chicagoland, I have covered the entire works with plastic against the rain. This is what it looks like (illuminated by the lights strung across our backyard to make it festive):

Hm. That didn't come out so well. I'll try another picture in the light tomorrow.

Henry has his first-ever baseball game tomorrow evening, so I'll get back to the boat on Tuesday, after work.
The plan then is to essentially repeat today's steps: I'll flip over the two sideboards and the bottom piece and sand down the messy layer and re-glass with a "pretty" layer. Actually, I may just do the two sideboards on Tuesday. To get the bottom piece flipped, I'd have to take the sideboards off and put them on the ground, and I'd be afraid of breaking the new glass I just put on today. So the plan is on Tuesday to flip over the sideboards and glass the other sides of those seams. That way, by next weekend, they should be set and done and cured. The next step in construction is to secure the sideboards to the fore and aft stems, so I can do that Saturday and at that time flip over the bottom piece and re-do that glass. That's a better plan.

While I was writing this, I got an e-mail from my mother (Mary).
I told you previously about my Uncle John (Mary's big, strapping brother who was in the Navy and could (and did) carry entire refrigerators on his back) and how my helping him to refurbish a power boat when I was a kid gave me a fondness for brass screws on boats. Mary's other brother, Tom, was less big and less strapping but a magnificent human being nonetheless. Evidently he, as a young priest, built a sailboat with some of his young priest friends. I was reminded of this recently, as I am now building a boat. This is background for my latest (and more supportive) e-mail from my mother. (You may recall her last e-mail could possibly have used a little more optimism.

Today, however, she is flowing with the milk of human kindness:

I read all postings on boat. Frankly I am at a loss with terminology. It all sounds so complicated and difficult. I think I have pics of u toms boat building. Will show when out here or maybe send if I can find. But I don’t think epoxy was available then so wood is just wood. But thought you might appreciate the task you (one person) took on when you see the army of men doing same. Job. I admire you talents and determination.

(emphasis added)
It's true, wood was just wood, but he had God on his side.
Uncle Tom's Particular Friend

And, because this post isn't long enough, I have one more thing to add. If you've been reading this log with the proper attention to detail, you may recall that last Sunday I cleaned my basement workbench. In one of my old toolboxes, I found some very old pictures, including a few remaining prints from a disposable panoramic camera I bought while on the SF Opera Tour in . . . the fall of 1997? (Among these pictures is a classic of my particular friend Fred with a look of abject horror as he stepped on the singer bus for the first time ever for a trip to the Grand Canyon. I will save him the embarrassment of posting it.) But on the same trip, Fred took what is probably my favorite picture ever of me (it's right up there with the cow picture, Fredye) sitting at the edge of the Grand Canyon.

I lost the original print of this more than 10 years ago, and have long bemoaned my loss. But last week I found the negatives (a hyperlink for anyone younger than me who has no memory of how pictures used to be taken.) Today I picked up the copy of the print, which I now share with you (you can click on the picture to see a larger version):
Tom, sitting with his feet hanging over the edge of the Grand Canyon,
circa 1997
Photo by Fred