11/4/21 - It's the bilge - Dreams Won't Wait: A PocketShip build

I’m still glassing the lower inside hull and it gets a little tight within the bilge – the work week/allergies/down time has limited my work range but I try to get at least one section down every night.

Pocketship bilge lower hull glassing — Aft moving forward – the first section glassed and started the epoxy fill coats. the second section glassed and curing.

Glassing and epoxy between the floor supports — Glass applied to first ~7 feet from aft of the lower hull. You can see fairing start to happen by sanding the glass and epoxy in the first two sections while the third cures. I switched to a smaller support board as I move forward. The cable run holes get covered in glass and I go back and cut them back open prior to curing too much. The limber holes must be reopened as well but will likely require some dremel size tools to smooth out nicely.

Slow and steady

This process slowed me down a bit but I rather let the epoxy cure and get a quick fairing of the edges before laying the next adjacent layers down. This makes for a smoother layering and less epoxy and sanding is needed as a result. Time = less epoxy and less sanding.

I’ve had much less goopy glass strings like you can see on the closest bulkhead #8 after I switched to power scissors. I expected more issues with the smaller surfaces on the floor supports but have only had minor bubbles and one section that drooped after I had called it a night. The end result is nothing insurmountable. Rigidity of the structure is increasing dramatically as each layer of epoxy goes onto each section.

I also ordered 1″ garboard drain plugs with flanges to add drainage to the front and rear compartments emptying to the bilge in the unlikely infiltration of water. Waterproof cable glands are arriving tomorrow for the nav lights, power running from gen/inverter on the outboard, and anything else leading to those compartments. The quick disconnect 4 pin connector and receiver arrived yesterday for the mast connections.

I picked up paint for the interior yesterday with the intention of having that ready as soon as the inside final epoxy coats and fairing are complete. I will start wiring runs at that point before I start on the floor layout to determine the exit points and routing more simply.

11/4/21 – It’s the bilge

Slow and steady

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Published by Drew

Slow and steady

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Published by Drew