The Admiral Wants Heat

[OverEasy]

Hi JimmyT!

You have the perfect weather to test your heater!

Nice work!

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[Jimmyt]

Thanks OverEasy! It might be a bit too cool for sailing right now - at least in the Admirals opinion.

Well, I’m not going to be using fleece if I build any more interior panels. The resin did not saturate it through. Maybe because my shop was in the low 60’s, or maybe not. Anyway, something more porous; maybe even glass cloth seems to be a better idea.

Having said that, the resin did soak in enough to form a pretty rigid panel, so I went ahead and skimmed it with filler. Spent a couple of hours sanding on it this morning, and it’s coming together pretty nicely. When road travel is safer, I’ll get some more resin and paint the inner surface.

[Jimmyt]

While waiting on my Thixo to arrive, I decided to finish my interior fascia. After sanding it slick, a textured paint caught my eye. It was a light sandstone color with a light texture that would have looked good with my 50 shades of beige interior (if only the product had been any good). The texture sprayed fine, but there was NO pigment. By the time the texture was getting heavy, I could still see right through to the filler. To add insult to injury, it took forever to dry. So, I decided to leave the texture and paint it. White Krylon for the save.

A dab of aluminum angle to trim out the opening, and the arts and crafts portion of the project is done.

Not perfect, but acceptable. Fortunately, the diffuser mount clears the aluminum angle trim.

[Jimmyt]

Starting to glass the hood piece. Got one side done. Just going with one layer of cloth on this piece. Mostly weather and scuff protection and a little strength. Been a long time since I’ve done much glass work, but it’s just like riding a bike, right?

Crawling toward the goal…

[OverEasy]

Yeah, just like riding a unicycle…
The getting set up for the first layer is always the hardest for me after a gap between fiberglass projects. Now where did I put that……

Won’t tell ya that we’re up to 65F the past several days here in SC…….or that all the snow has melted away…or that I already was able to finish the Spring yard clean up yesterday…. …..nope not gonna mention that…

Your project pictures look great!

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[LordElsinore]

Wow! That really does look great! Nice work Jimmy

[Jimmyt]

Wow! That really does look great! Nice work Jimmy

Thanks! Really appreciate the kind words!

I’m looking forward to getting it wrapped up in time for the 4th of July.

Actually, I put the last big piece of cloth on the hood this morning. Lots of trimming, skimming, and sanding and it’ll be ready to paint. Then, I’ve got to tackle the hatch and machine deck. That will be a bit more of a finesse job than the hood.

[ris]

Thats a really nice install. Our only heat is a small space heater when hooked to power and the stove when on anchor. Make hot chocolate it heats up the cabin then you heat up your insides with the chocolate.

[Jimmyt]

Got the hood piece glassed, skimmed, and sanded. Shot a coat of primer on it so I can see the spots that need additional work. I know the rear panel will need some attention. I ran out of glass cloth and used some that had been folded…. Not too smart. Otherwise, I’m pleased with how it’s looking.

[Russ]

That looks amazing. And solid. It is heavy?

[Jimmyt]

That looks amazing. And solid. It is heavy?

Thanks! I don’t have a feel for the assembly yet, but it won’t be a one-hander. I can easily lift the hood piece with one hand - if I have that hand at the balance point. I’m thinking some strategically placed handles will be required.

[Jimmyt]

Sanded the primer with 320 grit and spritzed on some white. Going to let that settle a few days before I put the black stripe on.

While I’m waiting, I’m working on the hatch piece and the machine deck. This morning, I conned the Admiral into helping me epoxy all of the hatch pieces together. The plywood “duct” bridges the joints in the hatch, so epoxying all of that together should reinforce the joint a bit. Hopefully when I glass it, it will be plenty strong. We’ll see when I fall on it in a rough sea…

Used Thixo epoxy for the job (my first time using it). What a great idea to package thickened epoxy in a caulk tube with a mixing nozzle. I don’t often get excited about adhesives, but this stuff is great. (No, I’m not sponsored - just a good product I wanted to share with my boat buds). One tip, though. Mark the plug in the tube BEFORE you remove it so you can put it back on the same way.

Anyhow, going right along. Of course, it’s 75 degrees outside…

[OverEasy]

That looks Fantastic!
Great work!

[Jimmyt]

Got the bottom and top of the hatch glassed. Working on the edge band now. I’ve got one edge done. This is going to be tedious, as I have to keep tinkering with it until it gels to keep the cloth from pulling up at the corners. I should have radiused the top edge. That would have just left me the bottom to tinker with. Anyway, it’s coming along slowly.