Saturday, 16 February 2019

Topside Panels

The topsides are the long narrow panels which when fitted will be the top of the cabin sides and outer wall part of the cockpit sides.

The topside panels were the first ones I worked on after the keel and centre board assembly. They were narrow enough for me to use my work bench as a surface to glue the puzzle joints, like this.



The rolls of lead were in use on the side panels while they were being glued up, so an alternative weight had to be found for gluing the puzzle joints on the topsides.



Bill's wildly tasty fat balls served very well, as you can see.

The topside panels were then stored inside the house until the other panels were finished. They would not be required until much later in the build, whereas the side and bottom panels would be needed immediately the keel is complete to start the construction of the hull, so they were the priority.

By the time I was ready to 'glass the topside panels I had the three tables in place so I had room to process them both at the same time.



Here they are just after the 'glass cloth had been wetted out.



And here they are trimmed and sanded, ready for two more coats of epoxy.



This is the final coat of epoxy, curing slowly in a cold English February.




And finally here are the panels after sanding to a P120 paint-ready finish. Now I need to store them away until they are needed in the build.


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