Monday, October 29, 2007

Bulkhead fillet


With the hull seams filleted and taped, I next turned to the bulkheads and hanging knees. These were filleted with peanut butter thickened epoxy, with the bulkheads being filleted on both sides. This will give great strength to the hull, and will also form watertight compartments in the bow and stern. To apply the fillets as neatly as possible, I used a gallon zip lock bag with a small hole snipped in one corner (after it had been reinforced with clear packing tape) as a sort of piping bag such that a pastry chef might use to decorate a cake. This allowed me to lay down a controlled bead of epoxy at each joint, which was then smoothed into rough shape with the rounded edge of a large tongue depressor. After allowing the epoxy to partially set up, I returned and gave it a final smoothing with a gloved finger wetted in alcohol. This gives nice smooth fillets that will require less sanding later on. Total hours: 16.00.

7 comments:

Hewy Nosleep said...

I like to how to boat videos!

Anonymous said...

Noticed that you have not cut holes in the bulkheads. The plans recommend some kind of ventilation. Are you planning to cut hatches in the deck? Some builders cut holes in the bulkheads for access and ventilation. A "deck plate" mounted on the bulkhead seems like a good alternative. What do you think?

Thanks for the excellent tips on getting a smooth finish.

Kevin

Peter said...

You are absolutely right Kevin; some sort of ventilation for the bow and stern chamber is preferable. For this boat, I will be installing deck hatches, as can be seen on the title photo of the blog. There, my wife is paddling one of the CLC Mill Creek 16.5 demo models.

I installed deck plates in the air chambers of my Passagemaker dinghy, and really like how they allow inspection and ventilation of those spaces. They also allow storage of small items within the dry confines of the chambers while sailing.

Ron Paro said...

Hi Peter,
I hope all is well with you. What's happening on the Mill Creek project?
Ron

Anonymous said...

Hi Peter... Just found your videos on youtube... Thanks a lot for putting these together!

Any plans to continue the demonstrations of the project online?

Hewy Nosleep said...

Hey Peter! I loved the video and how you helped Mickey. I'm going to amend todays post and link the video at the end. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Great blog! I really appreciate the video instructions... just what I was looking for when I ran across the site. I took the liberty of putting a link to you on my site: http://www.craftacraft.com/mill_creek