Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Tabbing in more interior bulkheads

In the spirit of getting the sole down, I've tabbed the inboard edges of all these bulkheads to the hull.  I'll work on the outboard sides... some other time.  The bulkhead defining the forward end of the chart table and aft end of the port settee got the standard double layer of 1708 6 inch wide biaxial glass tape overlapped on the fillet by two inches.  All the others received one layer.  I figure that since I could have opted to run them over the sole, they are not structural components.  I just need them to not jump around overmuch.

I also sanded the radiused corners all fair and flush and wrapped them with 10 oz cloth.



I made the mistake of tabbing several sections in the morning after a cool evening coming into a hot day.  The warming plywood outgassed under the glass, creating a multitude of air bubbles along the edges - some pretty sizable.  You can see them in the picture below as light spots along the top of the tape. The fillet is a solid connection - that's just glare in the curve you see there. Now, if I were a perfectionist, I'd grind that off and do it all over.  But perfect is the enemy of both good and done.  I've read that bubbles under the glass weaken the structure and trap water vapor via osmosis and thereby promote rot. I buy the lowered strength point; but again, these don't need to be that strong.  The rot and osmosis thing... I think it's mostly the former.

Outgassing bubbles along top of tape.  Disappointing, but not disastrous.
I've had the temporary companionway stepladder slip out from under me twice as I came up it.    Once while carrying a shopvac half-filled with water from scrubbing the bilge.  The resultant bone chip in my left elbow matches the one I created last year in my right while removing the steering quadrant.  I can only plead congenital stupidity.  I knew that the hot-glued blocks I had under the ladder feet had come un-hot-glued.  There's no way I should have that ladder unsecured. I've just been too "busy" to rig up a secure but easily moved thingamabob.  I'm stating here that my first order of business is to do that.  Maybe I'll hold myself accountable rather than holding myself in pain.

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