Fairing the blades (1)

Two hours of work today. Since Cinzia is on vacation, I'm working alone so I'm concentrating on smaller tasks. Today, after grinding the fg edges around the transom, I decided to work on the blades which are not complete yet. So first of all I sanded both blades with the power sander (40 grit) and a hand pad (60 grid)

I then glued the two handles/stopper to the centerboard

and finally I prepared some fairing putty and coated one side of the rudder blade. Tomorrow we'll se how this worked out

Total work time to date: 478 hours

Fiberglassing the vaka (5)

One hour of work today to fiberglass the transom with 160 g/sq.m. glass cloth.

Total work time to date: 476 hours

Fiberglassing the vaka (4)

Two hours today to prepare the vaka transom for fiberglassing, with the help of my son Giovanni who is trying to learn how to make a living after his graduation in zoology. We first rounded the corners of the transom framing and power sanded away fg edges and drips from the transom.

We then filleted the corners of the framing in preparation for fiberglassing

Total work time to date: 475 hours

Fiberglassing the vaka (3)

Two hours of nasty and itchy work yesterday to take down the fg edges with the Surforms (the most important invention of mankind).

Total work time to date: 473 hours

Fiberglassing the vaka (2)

Two hours of work this morning to fiberglass the vaka deck with the usual 160 g/sq.m. glass cloth. We used about 900 grams of clear resin. Here's a view of the deck during the wetting out

and here's the completed job

Total work time to date: 471 hours

Fiberglassing the vaka (1)

Four hours of work on sunday 14th. We first faired the fg edges on the second ama

We then temporarily rolled the vaka out of the shop to swap it with the amas

Both amas, now completely fiberglassed, have been put on the cradles, cleaned and set aside in the shop

We then cut the 160 g/sq.m. fg cloth to size, ready to be laminated on the vaka deck (next time). Here's it, with a fresh beer and the equally important mosquito repellent lotion.

Total work time to date: 469 hours

Fiberglassing the amas (8)

Four hours last night to complete fiberglassing of the second ama. Here's Cinzia draping and cutting to size the fiberglass cloth for the ama deck

and here's the fiberglassed deck. Here's Cinzia carefully looking for air bubbles.

We used around 500 grams of resin. By the way, we've started the fourth batch of epoxy resin last night. Up to now we've used about 40 kg. Next time we'll start working on the main hull.

Total work time to date: 465 hours

Fiberglassing the amas (7)

Six more hours this week (4 by Cinzia alone) to sand down the FG edges, prepare the second side for fiberglassing. and FG lamination with about 700 g of clear epoxy. Here it is

After the epoxy cures, we'll sand down the remaining FG edges, put the hull rightside up on the cradles, and fiberglass the deck.

Total work time to date: 461 hours