Getting Ready For Interior Fibreglass

While I was waiting for the reworked fillets to fully cure I decided to invest some time in making patterns for the fibreglass cloth panels which would soon be required for the interior of the bottom of the hull.

There are nine 'bays' in the bottom of the boat. Each requires a layer of fibreglass cloth to be applied port and starboard, overlapping up the sides and across the keelson and over each other to maximise the strength of the hull.

First I measured each bay and made a scale drawing of the pattern for one half of each bay, including the overlaps.

Here is the drawing for bay 3, which lies between bulkhead 2 and floor 3.

Then I marked out the patterns full size on sheet paper. I used thin paper so that it would conform easily to the shape of the hull.

I cut out all the patterns and test fitted them in the hull, as here.

The next step will be to use the patterns to cut 'glass cloth panels. I will most likely do this inside the house, where I can place two or three folding tables together for the work surface. There isn't sufficient room in the workshop.

Right now I'm enjoying a short break after finishing the fillets, although it has now occurred to me that I might have to add more fillets along the join of the keelson and the centre board case if I decide to run an overlap of cloth up onto the side of the case.

That would be tedious, to say the least! But as I consider the options, it seems inevitable …