Second Layer Started

I'm putting the second layer of strips on. My intention was to put these on vertically because I thought the shorter strips would be easier to handle than the longer horizontal ones, I now know that I was right, the long strips are more difficult in all sorts of small ways. What I found out when I tried the first vertical strip is that they don't want to bend around the sharper curves on the bilges so they have to go on horizontally.

I started with the first 100mm strip just above the sharp curve of the bilge and worked towards the keel from  it. As the strips approached the keel I saw that the 100mm wide strips would not fit nicely in the hollow section closer to the keel so had to switch to 50mm wide strips. This left me with a 75mm wide strip along the keel.

I found that the narrower strips are quicker to apply; they reduce the amount of spiling and fitting because they will bend sideways to some small extent and they need less glue so the mixing and applying doesn't take as long.

Here is a photo of the bow section.It takes two and a bit 2.4m long strips to go from end to end so I'm using up the offcuts from the first layer. Simple butt joints between the strips will be lost when the third layer of strips goes on. The challenge in putting these strips on is to make sure there is thickened epoxy filling any spaces between the layers. The only way I can see of doing this is to put plenty on so it squeezes out when the strip is nailed in place. then the excess can be scraped off and, if I can work quickly enough, used on the next plank before it goes off. Where the narrower strips come to the stem the twist makes for a gap 10mm to 12mm between the strips. I decided to fill these tapering gaps with offcuts of ply rather than spiling and fitting the strips. This is quicker and less wasteful than shaping the strips. The ply "buttons and black plastic are holding one of these filler pieces in place.

Here is the stern end. I knew there were hollow sections in the first layer and the coloured patches are epoxy bog filling them up. The hollows are there because there were not enough ribbands to support the strips in this area where the strips have a lot of twist. There were not enough ribbands because I had decided  during the lofting to notch the ribbands into the frames. This was a mistake, I should have drawn the frames smaller to allow the ribbands to be fixed to them without the notches. Next time I will not fall into this trap!

More of the offcuts from the first layer are visible in this photo. I have a lot of these and will use them up in this second layer of strips.

Another view of the stern shows the first of the 50mm strips coming onto the sharper curve of the bilge. There will still be ridges where the strips join but they will not be as pronounced as with the 100mm strips and will sand away. Also visible are some of the ridges in the first layer that have been sanded away showing the glue between the plies and some of the middle layer. These were amongst the first strips I put on and as my spiling and fitting technique improves there were less of these ridges to sand away.