JEM Watercraft

HI,
I've got a Buck XW glued up and flipped over. I'm sanding away and still need to do some fairing and fillets. I was planning on using one piece of 4" wide tape down thw center seam from stem to stern to help beef up that joint and then use cloth over the whole bottom after the taped seam is dry. Here goes..When I use the cloth should I try and keep it in one piece putting resin on one section at a time and say work my way down one pannel on one side working my way up and over to the other side? Or should I wait till I can get a couple frinds together and have one mix resin one or two apply it then when the whole thing is good and sticky stretch the cloth over it and lay in down all at once? The other thing I see that might cause trouble is how the top strakes, now on the bottom cause its flipped over, angle in toward the stern. I can see the fiberglass cloth trying to come away from the plywood in those places.
I hope I got this out clear enough...
john

The Buc has a lot of twists and turns to it. You might want to consider working in smaller sections with overlapping pieces of cloth (don't overlap right on a seam).

This will take more time as you'll need to work with one section, let it cure, feather the cured fiberglass edge, and conintue.

It can save you a lot of frustration because if you try and do it all at once on a shape like the Buc, the wetted cloth will "bridge" over the seams instead of conforming to them. I found this out the hard way: I built a kayak version of the Buc and I tried doing the interior hull all at once. What a mess!

For lying the cloth on the hull exterior, I've found it easier to place the cloth, use masking tape on the ends if needed, and then wet out with a foam roller. You might have to make some slits to get everything to fit. E-mail me and I can send you some general instructions about all that.

For the interior, working in sections works the best.

As with getting friends to join in, that always helps. Just make sure the beer is iced before you begin.

JEM wrote:The Buc has a lot of twists and turns to it. You might want to consider working in smaller sections with overlapping pieces of cloth (don't overlap right on a seam).

Sounds like buying futures in fairing compound would be a good investment.

Think about going to Home Depot et. al. and getting a cabinet scraper.