This boatbuilding stuff sure can make a guy crazy. I just cant get my deck clear coat consistent. I thinned it too much on a previous coat and had to sand it smooth again. I just rolled on another coat and must not have thinned it enough because I had a couple dry spots. I just cant apply it consistently.
Now I dont think I have enough clear for another coat. I have a drop off date with Cutwater maker Mike for no later than the 9th. IF the new batch of clear I ordered gets here friday I can apply it friday night and give it two days to cure before the drive to Mikes.

If this coat tonight would have gone well I could have taken the boat to Mike this week, ahead of schedule.
I also picked up my windshields today. They are basically rough cut, not what I was expecting but he only charged me 20$. So I have to smooth the cuts and round the edges.

Frustrated.

Still sanding.

I hate sanding.

Confirmed drop off dates for cutwater and interior guys. I've got till Aug 10th at the latest to get the boat to Mike the cutwater guy. After that and as soon as I re-install the floor it goes to interior.
Dropped off the windshield template to be cut out. The folks at the glass shop suggested they do it out of Lexan, fine by me, they are the experts.

2nd clear coat

I spent 8 hours sanding the first clear coat from 320-800 grit on the entire hull. This morning I applied the second clear coat on the deck very thin and I had two blemishes the size of my hand that looked cloudy like some sort of surface contamination on the surface of the wood.

Amazingly, it totally vanished as the clear cured. I was stunned.
So I then put on another very light coat, it had been about 3-4 hours since the first but I thinned it too agressively. A couple areas crincled slightly too.

So I added some more clear to the mix to get the right ratio again that I had used before (under 10% thinner) and applied to the sides. I think the sides are DONE!

I'll lightly sand and do one more coat on the deck then Im calling that done as well. This SM1000 clear takes some getting used to but it has some amazing qualities and what I thought would take a month or more with varnish is going to be done in 1/3 the time.

Clear Coats Begin.

OK, after lots of sanding of the encapsulation coats of epoxy I applied the first coat of the SM1000 clear today on the entire hull.
The deck has a few flaws that will need to be sanded out well before the next coat. The flaws are purely the result of my poor/inexperienced roller use. I tried to go back over a couple areas which just makes things worse. If you spot a flaw just go on and sand it out later.

The sides are nearly flawless and will just need a very light sanding before the next coat.

The interior parts are the ones I am not quite happy with. The side frames inside the boat will need to be sanded down to the epoxy. Just not good enough prep work on my part since its so hard to sand in those tight places.

Before I start the clear coats I wanted to get the hardware that mounts through the transom in place and the holes drilled. So between sandings I mounted two U-bolts in the transom that will be used to hold the boat to the trailer and can also be used for tying up to a dock and possibly even pulling a skier.I also drilled and mounted tubes for the motor well drains. The only downside of all this is the best place to mount everything is right above the middle of the transom. So this doesnt leave much room for the boats name and and such on the back of the boat. I think the name will go on the rear of the sides of the boat then. In smaller letters I'll have the boats home port and the glen-l website http://www.glen-l.com/ on the transom.

After giving the boat a day off for the epoxy to cure, I lightly sanded the epoxy coat on the deck today with 220 grit twice. I then built up the epoxy layer with a second coat. The second coat is quite a lot smoother and really looks great.

Hard to believe this is just epoxy coats over a 220 grit surface. Look at the reflection of the bicycle in the second picture. That will be the last epoxy coat. In a day I'll block sand through 220 and 320 grits and then start applying the clear to the deck and the sides.

Deck Encapsulated

This evening I encapsulated the deck in epoxy. It sure gives a nice preview of what it will look like once the clear coat is applied. I'm very pleased with how its coming out. All that sanding from 150-220-320 with the random orbit sander then the long board sure paid off. Looking back in my log I spent 23 hours sanding the deck over 7 days time.

It was getting dark as I took these pics so they arent the best. I decided last minute tonight to go ahead and do this. I was planning on doing it tomorrow but I found out this morning that I have 12 hour day at work tomorrow so I wouldnt have time. Plus the temps and humidty tonight were the lowest forecast for the next 5 days.

Still Sanding

Lots and lots of sanding. I started with a belt sander on the deck with 120 grit. I did one pass over the entire deck. Then I switced to a random orbit sander for about 3 passes with 120 grit. If doing this again I would skip the belt sander all together and go straight to the random orbit, it does a much better job. With the belt sander you put in as many humps and valleys as you take out no matter how good your belt sander is. Im glad someone told me to switch to the random orbit when they did.Then I random orbit sanded the hull sides to 120. Then I started block sanding with a 11x3" block with 150 grit over the entire boat. As of now the entire boat is sanded through 150 grit with the hand block. The hand block does a great job. I'll switch to 220 tomorrow and block out the entire boat a couple times.

I finally got around to trimming the deck fair with the side of the boat. I should have got a picture of my method but forgot to. Anyway, I taped a very thin piece of aluminum sheet about 2 ft square against the side of the boat with the top edge fit just up to the bottom of the sub-deck. Then I ran the hand-held belt sander against edge of the decking using the side of the boat as a guide to shape the edge as a continuation of the shape of the boats side. The aluminum sheet protecting the side of the boat from getting sanded since I dont want to risk sanding into the fiberglass on the sides. A stainless steel rub rail will be fit along the seam of the decking and sides to finish it off. Which reminds me I need to get that ordered next week.

I also trimmed the deck around the cockpits and rounded the edges.

Now a side job I am doing is going to interrupt further progress until sunday. Darn it, gotta fund this thing somehow though.

King Plank Problem

Had a minor set back over the weekend. The king plank popped out of position on one side. I believe this is due to the king planks rather wide width and thickness. Its not able to conform to the crest in the center of the deck, this left areas under the king plank that did not get enough glue or not enough clamping pressure and the joint popped up.
At first I wasnt sure how to fix it. I couldnt screw it from underneath, and I almost resorted to drilling countersunk holes and bolting it back down then plugging the countersunk holes just like the coverboards have. In the end the fellow builders on the glen-l builders forum gave me some great ideas and I was able to use a syrenge to get plenty of epoxy under the plank then using long boards braced against the ceiling I was able to apply plenty of clamping pressure to force the plank back into place.

All is well again but I lost two days worth of progress in the ordeal.

I did finish up the windshield template while fixing the king plank fiasco and ordered the windshield rubber gaskets. Ill test fit again with the gaskets then take the template to the plexiglass shop to have the actual windshields cut.

I also ordered the white paint for the boot stripe at the waterline as well as the clear coat from Supermarine. They gave me 100$ off since they used the photos of my bottom paint in their website gallery.

I spoke with Mike from "Cutwaters by Mike" http://www.cutwaters.com/ He confirmed I can just drive the entire boat to his place 2 hours north of Indy and he will make the cutwater and transom bands right on the boat which will save time and assure a perfect fit. Only problem is that I MUST get the boat to him in the first 1/3rd of August due to his schedule.