Step 10.1 Repairing the Keel

As you know the fiberglassiing of the keel did not go smoothly, I was left with a lot and I mean a lot of spikey bits to contend with as well as the rounding of the keel edge. So out came the oscillating saw....spikeys minimized but now I had the task of getting the edge rounded.

I tried the oscillating sander and it worked but it would have taken a long time to get the proper radius and keep it relatively uniform. i needed something faster that would provide a nice uniform edge......out came Mr. Router....

Surprisingly the router is a fairly easy tool to use. Hang on to it though because it can get away on you really Quickly. Eye protection and a mask are essential. I'd go so far as to say gloves and full body covering is also required. I did the eye protection and the dust mask you can probably see where I'm going here...I did not where gloves or did I cover my arms etc. This is another lesson learned, when taking a router to a fiber-glassed piece of material the fiberglass, wood bits and the like get everywhere....and I mean everywhere. It became dust...very fine dust at that, and once it was on my skin I had a terrible reaction. It felt like a zillion tiny pin picks all at once. Not appealing at all. Lesson learned. Cover up completely from now on. My best guess is that it will take a week or two for glass slivers and dust to work there way out of my system, making some scotch tape gloves really helped. (sticky side in) I'm thinking that a thin application of white wood glue and allowing it to dry and then peeling it off will help a whole bunch too, I'll keep you posted.

Anyway the screw up I made on the weekend is now fixed and ready to be recovered in fiberglass cloth. below are the pics of reworked keel. I recovered the keel in 6 oz cloth and epoxy. I just don't need the lifting thing happening again.

Rememberf what it looked like just after the screw up???

Now this is more like it. Nice rounded corners no sticky up bits and best of all no air bubbles to speak of..

Keel and stringer completely glassed in...Whooo-Hooo !!!!

I'm going to let the epoxy and glass cure for a day or so and then it's sanding time. I did manage to find some old coveralls at work and will definitely employ those guys for the sanding job ahead. I am getting ever closer to finally encapsulating the outer hull in epoxy and hopefully eliminating the spike glass bits, at least for the time being. Then it's flipping time so I can work on the interior. All in all I'd say I'm about 6 weeks from completion......barring accidents!