Dockhand

I finally get around to actually doing Fleet Captain stuff last weekend. I stop by the club on Friday to prep a donated Lincoln kayak for fiber glassing. The left knee brace broken off and need to be reattach. Most of the close cell padding for the knee is already gone so I only have to clean up the stubborn pierces that remain. A good half hours of wiring brushing clean those up. I finished up by washing the boat inside and out. It was late by the time I finish. I get home before it started to rain.

Come back on Saturday after my race in NYC to do the actual fiber glassing. I have never did fiber glassing before so this is new territory. I can't imagine a couple of layer of fiberglass cloths and a cup worth of resin is going to be strong enough to reattach a knee brace. I have the procedure all planned out in my head before I did the job, but the actually work itself is much messier then I imagine. I cut two place of fiberglass to size and lay them out before I poured the resin into the mixing cup and adding the hardener. I thought 4 oz we be just right for the job not realizing how much 4 oz was. Once the hardener is added and stir I am on the clock to lay out the fiberglass over the join, brush on the mixed resin and try to hold my breath at the same time. The work space is confine, and upside down so I have to be on my knee as I stick my head into the opening.

The proper procedure is to put on one layer of fiberglass, brush on the resin and wet for the whole thing to dry before putting on the second layed, wait to dry then put on the third layer. The problem is I have mixed resin that would not wait to harden up. The end result being I put in all three layers as fast as I can before the last remainng 1 quartered of what I mixed harden up in the mixing cup. It did not take long for the repaired area to harden. I am surprise how strong join is after the repair. I still have to clean up the excess fiberglass that hang out pass the old knee brace and re-pad the knee brace area.

My next job is a personal project, restore my favorite club boat, an old beat up orange Huntsman. I bought two hatched to replace the old crack one. That that is a minor repair. The major repair is fixing seam line between the hull and the deck which is coming apart from the back of the cockpit to the tail on the left side and a but less on the right side. It would not be a problem it it is not also taking in water. I have to find a way to redo the seam tape so that it would prevent water from coming in. My original thought was to pour mixed resin in and let it fill out any holes inside the boat. I spoke someone at Atlantic Kayak Tours and he said to fiberglass it on the inside. That would not be a problem except for the fact that I have about 4 inch bulkhead, through a 5 inch hatch to work with in the Huntsman.

I was standing around trying to think of way to do it when Mike B. stopped by. Mike have a lot of experience fiberglass boat so I asked him to give my some advise. He end up take over much of the project. Instead of fiberglassing the inside, we removed the old seam gelcoat with a razer bladed down to the hull gelcoat. Mike then mix resin with filler, spray in some black car touch up color, and add hardener. We then put liberal amount of those stuff to make the new seam tape. It was a messed and take longet then I thought to harden up. I still have to send it down and remove the masking tape. I can't wait to finish it up and see what it like like.