Batboat Rebuild: Day 46 August 21st, 2009

Burnt the old stringers today. They were dry and went up really fast. Kind of sorry to see them go.


I worked up the bilge area by laminating strips of 1.5 oz CSM to create a bowl. I think there was about 2 to three layers of fiberglass all with much overlap.


The PL I caulked in the gap from days before had set so the rear of the deck got glassed to the transom using 1708 biaxial cloth.

At the same time I finished the last remaining 7 inches of bare deck with 1.5 oz CSM.

The 1708 and 1.5 oz cloth were covered with 6 oz hexel woven fiberglass for added strength and smoother surface.

I kept an eye on the clouds all that day. The wind was blowing hard, and the tarp still roped to the trailer yanked around with the gusts as I worked. There was a couple short periods of light sprinkle. I keep mentioning the weather in this blog to stress that if you make your own Batboat you'll need a garage or someplace out of the elements.


I took a break by heading to the gym before it closed and came back to bed the triangle deck piece to the tip of the deck with PL Adhesive.

I had a problem with gaps around the parameter of the deck where it meets the hull. (More on this later.) The fiberglass cloth slouched into most of it. This was my last day living in Zilwaukee, IIRC, and I put some PL Adhesive on the fiberglass in these areas under the bow to prevent the slouch when finishing it at the new place.


I quit about 7:45 to eat and play a computer game.

After a really bad year and a half my misery in that town is finally over. Bad economy, badgered by cops several times and had worse case senerio bad neighbors. There was still some stuff to move but I was all but gone from that house. The first 4 or 5 years were fine, however, I'll never move back to Zilwaukee.

Worked on the Batboat for about 4 hours that day. :)