Sanded and ready for glass in the next day or four. I didn't grind through in any spots but some of the places along the sheer are under 2mm. Might have to reinforce with an interior sheer rail in spots. Getting that chine edge just perfect was impossible. I'll live with this. Next step... fiberglassing the hull! Yay! Aloha!

Lots of various projects going on the Corbie 5 IOM RC sailboat this week. Over the past few days I've worked on the hull, the foredeck, and the aft deck. Here's what I've done: On the hull, I've put my second coat of epoxy on the hull, sanded it off, and just now added the third coat. Tomorrow I will lightly sand it off and then mark the waterline with this... After that I will leave it lightly sanded and will eventually add a few light coats of varnish for UV protection. That varnish will be sanded and polished in the end. Won't be as glossy as unsanded epoxy or varnish, but will be very smooth and have a very fair surface. I realize that doing it this way will probably add significant weight, but again... my sailing skills are so poor that it really doesn't matter! Tomorrow I get to also remove the hull from the frames! I have also worked on my aft deck. It's made from 1/32" (.9mm) ply with two reinforcements around the underside of ...

This week has been busy with life, but I've also been able to get a bit of boat time in. I've installed the ballast and started the fairing process. First, I cut the boat free from the building board, and then did a number of float tests with the lead simply pinned in place. Ended up using a bolt cutter to trim off some lead from the aft ends of the ballasts. Then I installed the lead onto the keel with thickened epoxy. When that dried, I then drilled several 9/64" holes all the way through the two halves. The holes were filled with short pieces of 1/8" stainless steel rod, and then thickened epoxy was piped in with a syringe. The lead is now epoxied and pinned permanently. Then the fairing started. I'm using a variety of thickeners. For strong adhesion, I used phenolic powder to stick the lead to the keel. I've had good luck with it in the past. It's the reddish stuff you can see. But then I'm experimenting with silica. It's the whitish...

Wow... it's always an amazing experience to see how the hull colors come out when you fiberglass the cedar! Today was a huge day for the new Sun Wind II. I finished, faired, and fiberglassed all day! I added the final planks this morning, and let them cure. Then I faired the hull, and now I've added the fiberglass. Phew... Here's the hull after fairing and sanding... Make sure it's well wiped off. Then drape the fiberglass over the hull. I made a slit so that the cloth would slip over the fin. Trim the fiberglass cloth so that there is only about an inch or so of excess cloth below the sheer line. Then also make a slit at the bow. Smooth the cloth over the hull and see how it easily conforms to the hull shape. Make sure  you like how it sits, as it's hard to move it once it's wetted out with epoxy. Then gather your fiberglassing tools. I really only use a small, very flexible yellow epoxy squeegee thing. I've used it for kayaks and R...

Well it's turning out to be a big day for the new Sun Wind II RC sailboat! I just faired the hull. First, I used my random orbital sander with 60 grit paper and really shaped the planks fair to each other. If you use 60 grit paper on cedar though, just BE SUPER CAREFUL! Cedar is very soft, and 60 grit can take off a LOT of wood very quickly. Keep the sander moving, and carefully eyeball the glue lines. As soon as the planks are fair, and the excess glue is gone, then stop! You can see how sloppy the planks were before starting: Then here is how it looked after the 60 grit scrubbing. You can see how rough the 60 grit leaves the surface. Afterwards, I went over it by hand with 200 grit, and then 320 grit. Those papers easily knock down the rough stuff and bring out the grain more. You don't need to go less than 200 or 320, and in fact, you shouldn't go smoother. Leave a little bit of tooth for the epoxy and fiberglass to lock onto. And don't worry, the gra...