Part-3

A Report to the Cabal:

Most of the work since last Report has been slapping on obscene amounts of filler

and sanding it off -- the objective being to re-contour the hull.

Man! I have been re-contouring that hull!.

Legend has it that there's polystyrene down there, somewhere, under all that filler.

I've gotten the hull to the point where I'm ready to break the two halves apart and
start with installation of the WTC. However, prudence dictates that I give the hull a
few days to 'season'; if I open it up now, the still curing and shrinking filler and
primer will warp the pieces. Best to be patient and let things stabilize before
cracking this sucker apart.

As work progressed to refine the shape of the hull with the buildup of Evercoat Metal Glaze filler, more and more of the gap between upper and lower hull got stuck together (though a weak bond) with the filler. As this happened I removed the adjacent securing straps -- soon there were no straps left and the holes left by their fasteners were filled also.

As the hull became more symmetrical I built up and defined the sharp inset edge of the superstructure break atop the hull, evidenced as a longitudinal split between superstructure and hull, about five feet below deck level (prototype measurement).

Note that I'm starting to use the photographic documentation of a boat of this class that was shot during a dry-docking, this and other information provided by BARBEL class expert, Britt Boyette.

The rounded 'superstructure break' on this kit had to be fixed -- it's better represented by taking out the radius and turning it into a right-angle, high relief lip.

What we're representing here is the long running open slits that run most of the length of the hull, either side. These are drain and vent openings needed to facilitate the quick flood and drain of the free flooding superstructure that stands proud of the pressure hull. Within the superstructure are the main exhaust piping from the engine rooms, main induction pipes, and other items that need routing external of the pressure hull to the sail.

Pulling the tape away shortly before the filler had hardened to the sanding state revealed a clean and built-up demarcation line. The tape and filler trick had to be done several times before I had the desired 1/16" overhang of filler I wanted. With the quick curing filling the work went as quickly as I could lay down tape, build up filler, remove tape and then repeat those steps on the other side.

The initial build up of the superstructure break. First a right-angle transition, later modified into a radius transition from longitudinal to vertical lip.

The initial buildup of the filler 'radius' transition between the vertical and longitudinal breaks -- that represent the pressure hull/superstructure demarcation point -- was formed by pushing a suitably sized dowel into the corner where the lines meet, doing so shortly after introducing some still wet filler.

Final refinement of the radius transitions at the front and back of the long superstructure break were done with a modified soft plastic screeding blade -- its edge sanded to the desired shape. The tool was used to drive small quantities of filler into the ends of the break to build up and maintain the radial shape of the longitudinal to vertical portions of the raised superstructure.

A soft blade screeding tool was used to smooth on most of the re-contouring filler. This and the other things needed to do filler and putty work can be purchased at your local automotive refinishing supply house. Look 'em up in the phone book. The one I use here in the Tidewater area is Mattos, Inc.

Just a few days ago this hull was a box full of loose vacuformed parts. Damn, I'm good! After three days of work I'm about ready to bust the upper and lower hulls free from one another and then get on with the task of cutting a portion of the lower bow off and attaching to the bottom of the upper hull, cutting a portion of the upper stern off and attaching it to the top of the lower hull ... did that make any sense at all?!

From Mattos I buy the 131s fill 'n sand primer and its associated thinner. This lacquer primer can be thinned to water consistency or cut lightly to have the consistency of mud -- whatever the gun will shoot, you can adjust the primers thickness to suit your job. I even contour with this stuff! I normally keep two ready-service jars of premix at hand: one thin, one thick.

The primed hull ready for a careful survey to identify more areas in need of sanding or filling. The 131s dries work ready in about fifteen minutes. I love this stuff!

Using a stick of charcoal I marked off those areas that needed to be filled (circles) and those areas that have to be sanded down (circles with hash-marks).

Work continues.