Glen-L Zip

Yesterday we flipped the boat over. Thank you to Paul N, Andy, Tom, Paul B, Dave, Jamie for helping, and all the little helpers too. We lifted the hull straight off the building form, walked it out, rolled it over on the grass while taking the weight, then lifted back onto the new support frame. This is on wheels so easy to move the boat around.

Here are some photos of the final coat. It doesn’t look great on close inspection, but it will have to do.

I also got some wood and made a cradle to hold the boat after the flip. I covered it in old carpet to protect the hull.

Here is my cradle lifting assistant…

…and here is the cradle in place. All I need to do now is make and attach the skeg and we can flip her over.

Today I sanded back any runs and sags and abraded the whole boat with 180 grit sand paper. Should probably have used finer grit paper, but I dont think the finish is going to be good enough to worry about that now.

Then washed the hull and painted again using Perfection Med White. This time I used a bristle brush and it was a bit faster and easier that the foam brushes. I also found it easier to use less paint with the bristle rather than with the foam ones, meaning less runs and sags likely. Time will tell whether the finish is as good with a bristle brush.

Next job will be to make, fibreglass and attach the skeg. Then a cradle. Then time to flip the boat.

Sanded the undercoat to remove a few runs and then washed down ready for the top coat.

Used International Perfection Mediterranean White. Applied with foam “brushes” which
were pretty good and apply the paint well, but they don’t last as long bristle brushes.

Will apply another coat weather permitting some time this week or next weekend.
Then need to make and attach a skeg, build a cradle and we’ll be ready for the flip party.

I just noticed the wooden stool in this photo.
I made that when I was about 14 years old and it’s about the only woodwork I’d done in my life
before starting on the boat.

At last managed to find some time to finish sanding and then applied the undercoat.
I used International Perfection Undercoat…

This is what it looks like upside down (or the right way up depending on your point of view)…

Will hopefully be able to give it a light sanding and then get the first top coat on tomorrow.

At last the final coat of epoxy has been applied. Now just needs a light sanding before painting. Need to find some cash for the paint too.

In preparation for painting I’m using West 410 Microlight filler to help get a good surface and iron out all my lumps and bumps.

It goes on easily, a small amount covers a large area and it sands smooth much easier than pure epoxy – it’s great stuff.

Lots of sanding required though.

I have at last managed to find enough time to fibreglass the hull. I did it in 2 sections (port and starboard), over 2 seperate days. Before fibreglassing I had to do some fairing to fill some areas and a lot of sanding – not prettty, but I plan to paint the hull which will hopefully hide all the horrors.

For each side, I laid out 2 sections of cloth, one for the hull and another for the side, which overlaps the hull cloth, to make the seam stronger.

Here you can see the overlaps once wetted out with epoxy

With one side done, I set to work on the other side a couple of days later

I measured out quite a few cups of epoxy with 6 “squirts” from the pumps in each before starting. When I needed a new batch, I just added 6 pumps of hardener and mixed it up. On the far table I had all my cleanup equipment and other tools ready to hand in case I needed them. I went through several rollers (nearly ran out), lots of cups and mixing sticks and lots of rubber gloves (they get covered in epoxy and make picking up tools very messy)

Ready to start the second side

Action man…

Cloth wetted out

Another coat

Nearly done

Some prgress at last. I started fibreglassing the transom today. I wetted out and saturated the cloth with epoxy using a plastic scraper, then rolled it all over with a foam roller. There are a few drips/runs but overall I’m quite pleased with my first effort. It wont take too much effort to sand down any drips and do another couple of coats of epoxy.

My perfect scenario is that the transom will be good enough to leave with a “bright” wood finish. The 2nd coat of epoxy was applied this morning, but it’s a little cloudy. I’m hoping this is just air bubbles caused by rolling to vigorously and hopefully it will clear during curing. If not, then lesson learnt and I might have to invest in West 207 hardener (designed for bright finishing/coating) or else I will give up on having any wood finish and just paint the whole hull and transom.