The Boat Shop

With the solid-wood core sealed up it was now time for the interior fiberglass.  Single layers of 1.5 oz mat and 1708 biaxial cloth set in place with polyester resin was the chosen laminate schedule for its ease of application and ruggedness.

Starting at the transom with  an overlap the material was laid in place, staggering the factory edges of the material so they didn’t coincide with each other.  Having the 1.5 oz mat material 38″ wide and the 1708 biaxial material at 50″ helped that quite a bit, with only one stacked factory edge showing up.  A quick adjustment and that was taken care of.

Positioning the first strip

Ed, busting bubbles

With Keith positioning material, Ed and Travis worked opposite sides, keeping the wet edge going along the length of Valkyrie.  Resin was mixed in small batches, just in case something happened; a rolled up edge or a stubborn bubble – neither of which happened.  All thanks to a good fairing job on the interior of the hull.

Ed and Keith keeping the wet edge

The bow was a somewhat tricky area to fiberglass, the inner stem being a series of sharp angles that just don’t lend themselves to a quick and easy layup job.  Using a large refuse bag draped over the sheer (now known as the “cheat sheet”) Travis trimmed the excess material with the shears and bubble busted deep inside the cloud of fumes now collecting inside the hull.

A solid layup

All said and done Valkyrie has taken roughly 18 gallons of resin, 9 gallons of vinylester resin on the exterior and now 9 gallons of polyester resin on the interior.

The material for the work platform was gathered today as well, using full length spruce stringers and 3/4″ plywood which were sealed before shutting Shop2 down for the night.

Work platform material sealed up and ready for installation

Reading: Interior