23 Sceptre - last unmolested one

[FLexpat]

No, I didn't abandon this project - just another year of not getting much done with lots of stuff (Irma, daughter's wedding, parents, etc) preventing me from actually getting out the tools in FL. So I decided to take measurements, build a few parts in Utah, ship them to FL and install them in the few spare minutes I have when I'm there (Thanksgiving when I was not happy with football scores). Made hatch lips in a mold I made from measurements of the curve of the stern cap. Used Duratec for the mold surface, waxed it and put PVA on. Wiping or spraying PVA with a spray bottle does not work for me - on the curved hatch I used a cheap Harbor Freight touchup gun at 90psi for PVA and it works great. Gelcoated the mold and laid up mat, soft cloth, and then 1708 in vinyl ester. Thinned the gelcoat 25% with styrene and I was happy with how it sprayed - wife was not happy with the smell in the garage that wafted into the house.

Pic of part and mold is after I cleaned the PVA off.


Made recesses in it for flush Gemlux hinges. 3D printed plastic pieces slightly larger than the hinges to make the hinge recesses.


Rough glassed it in. I was really surprised at how hard it was to deal with the curve of the cap...


Mold for curved hatch. Tried a few new things; picked up wax fillet tools on ebay for $25 and a bunch of wax fillets so I used that. Only put Duratec on the wood parts of the mold - just waxed the whiteboard when I waxed the whole mold. Seems like it will work better - the finish on the fillets is better than on the hatch lips. I already know that gelcoat releases very easily from it...


Discovered that rebuilding a boat in a Legos format is really hard! Matching the curve of the stern cap from measurements and building parts 2000 miles away is a royal pain when it comes time to install them. Learned that the 1/4" whiteboard material from Home Depot is great for smooth finishes on molds but it warps if you build the mold and let it sit in the wrong position for too long. Spraying gelcoat in 6% humidity means no tack to the finish after 24 hours (good and bad). Discovered that letting gelcoat sit for 2 weeks in the curved hatch mold without glassing it means you get to redo it because the gelcoat shrinks and pulls off the mold. I wanted to redo the corner wax fillets on that mold with a smaller radius anyway though.