Lower Hull Glassing, Bow Eye Installation.

 Lower Hull Glassing Almost Finished.

August was the month of glassing. In total there are 19 sections in the port and starboard lower hull sections. As stated by many previous builders this stage of the project is by far one of the more challenging parts of the build. Be prepared to do a lot of climbing in and out of the boat and working in difficult positions.

The Boweye. 

Preparation and installation of the first piece of hardware.

The boweye has two very important functions, it provides the support link or bobstay to the bow sprit and secures the boat to the trailer. Because this is a highly loaded component, I decided to beef up the bow compartment.

To provide the additional strength and even the load I decided to add a timber reinforcing block to the bow compartment. The block was trimmed to fit neatly, and larger holes were drilled and filled with thickened epoxy.

Two small pilot holes are drilled in the center and completely through the epoxy section of the block. This is to ensure the block is lined up in the correct position.

The block is trial fitted with screws through the stem and into the two pilot holes.

The inside area is glassed, sanded and cleaned. 

The block is glued into place with thickened epoxy and held in place with screws through the stem. When the epoxy was set several layers of glass are smoothed over the block and onto the hull sides.

An additional stainless-steel plate is shaped to fit the inside bow section and sit against the block.

The stem is shaped to fit the curved bow eye plate. several layers of epoxy are applied to waterproof and densify the area. 

Sikaflex is applied to the bow eye shafts and the bow eye is pushed through the stem.

The plate is glued into place with Sikaflex and secured with nylock nuts.