Day 12 through 15: The Adventure Slows Down

Okay ... well .. we lost some momentum with that whole ziggyzaggy bow and stern thing. But Dave's reassurance gave us the heart we needed to press forward and take the plunge. We flattened down our copper wires, as instructed, and prepared the inside of the boat for fillets, Fiberglas tape, and 2 coats of unthickened epoxy. Fillets, by the way, are what the boatbuilders call the stuff that fills in the gaps and provides a thicker area along the "seams" where the bilge panels come together with the shear panels and the bottom of the boat. Fillets are also applied where the bulkheads meet the sides and bottom of the boat. How do you make fillets, you might wonder? It is actually epoxy that is thickened (by adding wood flour) to the consistency of peanut butter. That is applied with homemade tools (sort of a tongue depressor, actually; one with a 1/4" radius and one with a 1" radius). The Fiberglas tape is pressed down along the seam over the fillets. Then unthickened epoxy is applied over everything. The Fiberglas tape undergoes a fantastic reaction when the epoxy is applied over it - it turns from white to clear and you can see the fibers form along dried edges. Its way cool.