C-17 Our first Build !

[David516]

Thanks Tom. By smoothing do you mean filling in the weave or fairing or both in between layers of glass like several layers of tape?

[David516]

well, the holidays are over so I'm planning on starting our build next week. Ive had the pieces and plywood sheets sitting at a constant 68 degrees at 40% humidity weighted to prevent warping.
i thought I would start by gluing all the parts that need to be pre glued such as transom, clamping board, and splicing the hull and chine panels (lengthwise) and the top bow deck.

My question, is that I've noticed that some builders like to pre glue the upper and lower chine panels where they overlap before attaching them to the lower hull panels on the frame. Others prefer to glue them after the lower chine panels have been attached to the lower hull panels. Which is the overall better way to do this???

[Fuzz]

David on boats with upper and lower panels you do NOT want to glue them together to start with. Install the lower panel, get it all set and then install the upper panel. Many times you need to make small adjustments with the upper panels and there is no way to do this if they are glued together. Also if glued together they will be too stiff to make the bends.
fuzz

[jacquesmm]

Fuzz is correct. It is impossible to bend the top and bottom panels once they are epoxy glued together.
This is for the side panels. The splices are done before installation on the hull.

[TomW1]

By smoothing I mean sanding the fibers that hold the main fibers away and then applying a thin layer of epoxy/filler mix to fill the weave. This is by no means a fairing layer. But it sets you up for fairing as the fiberglass is ready to be faired. Keep up the good work my original boat to build was a center console was the C17.

[David516]

Thank you guys! I will post some pictures as I go along ! Will start with the transom in a few days!
I hope everyone had a good New year !

[David516]

Greetings everyone,
Been a long distracting winter. Ive been starting my set up and some work on the transom and hull sections. I dont know if Im going to be able to post pictures because Ive been trying for two hours and still cant figure it out! Lets face it, two things I'm very challenged at apparently. Computers and boat building. Im a very decent carpenter but my problems dont fall into that category. Getting a little frustrated with my own confusion. I laminated the transom and clamping board pieces and they seem to have come fine. I joined one of the bottom hull pieces together and this is where I am confused. I joined the puzzle ends by pre sealing the area and wetting out the 8' biazial tape. Since the pieces would not sit flat I weighted them with a board with plastic sheeting in between under a weight. My confusion lies in whether I did this right because when I checked it the next day, although the panels met perfectly there is a smooth sort of thick appearing resin appearance on most of the tape area. some of the area seems not to be that way where there are some very tiny gaps in the weave and some small "pot holes" on the edges.
I also had a build up of resin on the unfinished side that needed to be sanded down. I know I wetted all the cloth properly but now do I have to sand it,fair it or what in order to prevent air bubbles on the edges when I finally put the biax cloth over everything when the hull is together? In other words, am I headed in the right direction?
Im experienced enough to do anything any of you tell me, but sadly, at the moment I feel i am too %&#&!! stupid to know what it is I need to do !!! Any help will be very appreciated. I will continue to attempt to post [image]pictures.http://gallery.bateau2.com/albums/userp ... G_7408.JPG[/image]

[David516]

[image]http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage.php?pid=64289[/image]
[image]http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage.php?pid=64287[/image]
[image]http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage.php?pid=64284[/image]

[BarraMan]

Looks fine to me - give it a light sand with 120 grit and build on!

Cheers

Lee

[David516]

Thank you Lee ! I shall ! and Ill keep posting to let you guys know my progress !!!! Very much appreciated !