Second Layer Complete

Put the last of the strips in the second (middle) layer this morning. Traditionally this 3 layer cold molding has the diagonal strips in the first 2 layers and the outside (3rd) layer is longitudinal. This is because it looks better in a clear finished boat. I'm no longer sure why I chose to put the middle layer longitudinally but I am glad that I did because it is much easier to get a tidy pattern with the diagonal strips. Also, they are shorter and easier to handle.

The first side of longitudinal strips was a learning exercise; it doesn't look very tidy! The second side is better but still not very good. The appearance is irrelevant of course because it will be covered by the next layer and I know that this will look OK. Even there the appearance is only important to me because it, it turn, will be covered by one or two layers of fibre glass cloth and many layers of paint!

The thing about longitudinal strips is that the shape to be covered is maybe twice as wide in the middle as it is at the ends so the strips need to be tapered for it to look pretty. This leads to a lot of waste material and is perhaps why the recipes for calculating the material needed add a 25% allowance for wastage. Here is a picture of most of the "waste" material after my 2 layers are complete.

As you can see there are not many usable pieces there. The third diagonal layer will have a larger wastage because I will only use complete strips without any butt joints.

Here's a photo of the stern where you can see the different patterns as the strips run out. The starboard (left hand because it is upside down) is tidier but...... There are strips tapering out along the keel (at both ends) and along the "great circle" but the strips along the sheer are neater and don't have as much twist in them.

For all the boats I have built I have used plastic drink glasses to mix epoxy because they are cheap, maybe 10c each depending where you shop, and I use them once and toss the in the bin. I have used 100s of them, maybe even a few thousand, and never though twice about it. With this cold moulding I was using them at a much greater rate and made a discovery. If you let the epoxy go off overnight it is easy to remove and the cup can be recycled. Let the epoxy harden, squeeze the cup and put out the epoxy leaving a clean cup. Here they are with epoxy in them.

And here they are ready to go round again. I am getting about 5 or 6 uses before the plastic splits and they have to be binned. Just think of the money I am saving by building this boat!

Next steps are to scrape off the excess epoxy and sand the whole hull. I started the scraping this afternoon but my hot air gun gave out a big flash and became a cold air gun. Hmmm, I wonder if it is still under warranty?

I also need more plywood and can't get this until the mill goes back to work and makes some more 5mm ply. They are still on an extended Christmas holiday so there is going to be an extended delay.