A Touch of Glass

Finally, after weeks of filling and sanding, I've managed to get half of the cabin roof glassed. And a right faff it is too! The compound curvature of the roof means that the cloth has to be pulled all over the place in order to get it to lay flat. In the end, although I cut a single piece of glass for the port side, I finished up cutting it into three bits so I could get it to fit easily around the hatch frame.

The glass is laid onto the roof dry and then resin is poured on top. A squeegee and foam roller are then used to spread the resin over the cloth. This I find gives a better finish than wetting the wood first as any dry areas can be topped up with more resin as the job progresses.

The glass is left long around the cabin edges as this helps to hold it tight against the edges and corners. It'll all gets trimmed up with a knife and sanding block once cured.

Also in the photo you can see the completed main hatch frame and in the distance you might be able to spot the bottom of the windscreen frame, glued in place.

It almost feels like progress.


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First full boat working day of the year

Even with the early frost this morning, the sunshine soon warmed up the day. It was still warm at 4pm when I was finishing up and pulling the cover back over the boat.

I've spent what seems like months on the cabin roof. It probably has been months, the old top layer of veneer stripped off, the new ply layer glued down and then sanding, sanding and more sanding. It's still not quite right - there's a few low spots to fill, but its 500% better than it was.

All the original wooden bits; the hatch frame and the bits which supported the hand rails and the windscreen base were all stripped off and have slowly been coming together in the workshop. All cleaned back and then three or four coats of epoxy with clear-coat hardener. This hardener is more resistant to Ultra Violet light and forms a good base for varnish, either 2 pack or high build single pack like Epifanes. I was warned that you can't put Epifanes single pack varnish straight onto epoxy as it won't "go off" so my usual method is 4 coats WEST 105/207 and then 4 coats of International Perfection 709 prior to 2 or 3 coats of Epifanes.

I hate two pack varnishes; they are too runny, take a lot of mixing and mucking about and the thinners smell awful so I spend all day with a full breathing mask on. The Organic Vapour filters in the mask take away the smell and remove the toxic elements of what's flying around. I daren't spray this stuff so stick with brush and pot. I must try a test piece to see what really happens to single pack varnish straight onto an epoxy base - it would be nice to dispense with the two pack layers, it would save a lot of money too.

By 3 o'clock it was still warm enough for epoxy, so I decided to go for it - the photo shows the side rails of the hatch frame glued and screwed into place. Not much to show for a days work...

Wheels within wheels

Shortly before Christmas I called round to a friend's house to collect some club paperwork. The friend in question had obviously been having a clear-out of his garage, because, sat on his front doorstep was a rather nice Stainless Steel Destroyer steering wheel.

I've been after a new wheel for the Huntsman as I felt the Mountney Ford Escort Rally wheel didn't exactly suit. So the offer of a free steering wheel was too good to turn down.

The typical marine setup is a 3/4" taper with a key-way, however the Fairey boats invariably used an automotive mechanism, most likely from a Bedford truck. This uses a splined shaft and taper.

Luckily the Mountney wheel had a suitable hub, but a certain amount of adaptation was required to mate the modified hub to the "new" wheel. the photo shows the wheel setup on the lathe with the boring head in action carefully opening up the hub.



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