Vagabond Construction

Updated: 4/2/02

Hull assembly (photo was shot sometime in November 2001)
The side panels are being stitched onto the bottom three panels. During this process, the panels had a "natural" shape that really fit into the basket mold. Once everything was lined up, there was very little to adjust.

(photo was shot sometime in November 2001)This was taken before the bow was tied together. There is a wooden spacer set between the 2 bottom panels which I removed before I put the final bow piece in place. You can still see the gap between the side panels. The photo above has the wooden piece in place. I screwed this into place while the epoxy cured. I had to leave one screw in because it got epoxy on it.

Fiberglassed Hull
(photo 2/18/02) Sorry for not taking more shots of the progress, but 80 hours of sanding is still 80 hours of sanding...
At this point, the interior of the hull has the following coats:

  • all seams have 1 saturation coat
  • all seams have been filleted, covered with biaxal fiberglass and faired smooth
  • 1 saturation coat of entire interior of the hull
  • 1 layer of fiberglass
  • 2 coats of slightly thickened epoxy over the fiberglass to fill the weave (light sanding in between)
  • 2 coats of S3 silica & microballoons for fairing purposes

If you look closely (near the sander), you can still see the tape lines on the bottom panel which mark the bulkhead placements. I found that the microballons obscured the tape lines because of their purple color. I retraced the lines with a black magic marker between coats.

Latest update
The interior of the hull is finally faired.. maybe a little too fair. I spent too much time fairing what will ultimately be covered up. I've cut a few of the bulkheads (B,E & H) and dry fitted them into place.

 

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