The "easier" part presented its own problems. We were working over the wet glass so I built a scaffold by laying doubled 2x4s sheer to sheer every 10' and hanging 2x4 legs from them. 2x10s were then laid between the supports about a foot above the hull.

 Still, to work near the sheer, we had to lean out grabbing the sheer in one hand and a squeegee or roller in the other. To work on the bottom we laid on the epoxy soaked 2x10s.

 I learned about the nonstick microballoons on the bow so I rolled on a 4" wide coat of 105 around the perimeter of this area so the tape would stick.

See? I do have a life! (When my wife drags me out of the boat shed.) I clean up pretty well too.

The structural grid sucked up a lot of glass too. I fabricated them in several "L" shaped particle board molds covered with poly sheet. The top flanges called for 60 to 80 layers of glass which would build up too much heat if done all at once so I had to bag them 10 layers at a time.

Here you can see the longitudinal stringers, the short mast frame and the broaching frame. The larger collision frame was fabricated in place with 140 layers of glass and can be seen on the main bulkhead page.

The sheer clamp had to be laminated in place, removed and shaped and then repositioned and bonded. Holding myself against the hull while positioning the wood and applying a clamp took more than a little acrobatics.

 After the entire clamp was shaped, I hung it from the ceiling of the shed to hold it in position to clamp with every clamp in my collection.

By far, the worst place to work is in the bow. There is no place to stand, no place to kneel, you are surrounded by wet epoxy and the only sharp corners that need glass with no voids is where the strips meet the stem.

 A small disaster occurred when we discovered that the vacuum tape wouldn't stick to the ProSet! We hurriedly washed down the perimeter with acetone and got enough stick to hold but NOTHING sticks to epoxy and micro balloons. We finally washed down the top edge of the sheer and got the tape to stick there.

By the time the photo at left was taken, I had trashed a pair of tennis shoes, a long sleeve shirt and several clumps of hair.

Note: When you start bagging the inside, be sure to allow plenty of extra bag to fit loosly against the hull and avoid bridging. I had a hard time doing this and had to reposition the bag several times to get it to lay flat and even.

The keel area called for solid glass so I routed out the wood until the outside glass was exposed. Here I learned exactly how much glass it takes to make 1 1/2" of thickness. That little green spot behind me is 40 yards of DB170 and 30 yards of uni-directional.

A word of warning. Never go to a formal cocktail party and then go look at the boat before changing out of your Tux!

It is critical to get this frame absolutely square and level. If you don't you will sail through life with an odd tilt. (But I do that already.)

The sheer clamp is made up of 4 layers of 1" mahogany scarfed together. That meant cutting 36 scarfs and called for a scarfing jig. I glued together a few pieces of scrap and mounted a couple of lever action clamps . The whole rig was then clamped to the miter fence on my table saw. That made short work of the scarp cutting but the glue up was another problem.

There are 98 clamps in this picture.