Bits, pieces, notes

Welcome back. I spent Mon-Thu in some very long, very intensive training at work, spending nights in a hotel because the days ran so long. Was feeling the need to recharge the batteries, so I took my wife to lunch down on the Seattle waterfront. It was a nice day today, we had a good meal, and I enjoyed a nice local brew while watching the water. Here's another boat-related goal: finish the boat, then sail it down to the Seattle waterfront, get a good view of the city, and have someone on shore take a picture of my boat. This is not really my idea; while visiting him I saw a cool picture of Rod Tharp's F9A sailing in that area, side-by-side with another F-boat (I think), with the Space Needle in the background. It makes a nice goal to shoot for.

But enough -- I'm not the Chamber of Commerce. :)

Bubble trouble update: I sent email queries off to a few folks, plus Ian, plus System Three, and also got a couple of helpful comments to my last post. The general consensus was that laminating in a rising temperature and/or humidity variations may cause outgassing which can cause bubbles. The solution is to avoid doing that. I think this means that I do my laminations early as possible in the morning, when it's still cool out, or late in the evening when temperatures are falling. System Three's response was that the surface of sheets of CoreCell contain lots of cut bubbles (from when the sheet was cut), and that screeding the surface of the CoreCell with a light epoxy\micro mixture (and letting it cure before laminating) would fill those imperfections and maybe help avoid the problems I'm seeing. Sounds plausible, I guess -- but I'm going to try changing the timing first. Pre-coating all foam surfaces would be a lot of time and work.

Big news (especially for my wallet): I ordered my beam mounts today! Really looking forward to seeing those.

A week or so ago, I received the Tempress hatches I ordered. Here's what they look like:

I haven't gotten the Ronstan 6" inspection hatches yet -- I need to call the supplier on Monday to see what's taking so long.

I've also cut and rolled up all the glass needed for the remainder of the float exterior laminations (two sides, two decks):

I roll the glass up on tubes, then carry it out to the tent. Here's how much 12oz and 18oz glass I have left; 12oz on top, 18oz on bottom (this is my second roll of 12oz - pretty sure I've wasted quite a bit though):

This afternoon I flipped my #5 and #9 form frames around, and the port float is all prepared for me to laminate its second side.