It's been half a year since I removed the first teak plank from my 34 foot sailboat. All the teak was swiftly pulled off and I went on to cutting open the outer skin to assess the extent of balsa rot. I had absolutely no idea how I was supposed to rebuild the deck. Insted of getting my ducks in a row I impulsively went forward on momentum and gutted half my deck in a Top Gearesque "how hard can it be" fashion.
As I retrospectively started researching balsa core repairs I realized I had dug myself a huge time pit if not also a money pit. I learned about 12:1 bevels and that I had made cuts in the wrong places, that proper core bonding is virtually impossible for the DIYer, delamination will occur, the epoxy will not allow the deck to flex, polyester will not bond and so on and so forth.
As far as I've learned you can set out to do boat repairs the correct way as described in books and according to best practices and consensus on sites like boatdesign.net. But being my first project it's hard to relate when you haven't actually done it before. So I've opted for the other way, reading, interpreting, altering and adapting the information to fit my specific problems, trying, failing and praying that it simply will be good enough. The good old good enogh.
I would be exaggerating if I said the job is almost done, but I am slowly getting nearer a recored and relaminated deck and I guess I'm looking for the universe to tell me that my vessel will not fall apart. I mean, there's probably some voids under my Airex foam core (which is set in epoxy w colloidal silica). The resin to glass ratio is surely off for some of the laminate (too dry before I got the right technique). I've used epoxy so I would think that it should hold up better than if I had chosen polyester.
How sensitive to mistakes is this fiberglass stuff? Is it really rocket science? I mean the more research you do, the more mistakes you realised you've done. I wonder if boatbuilding would be easier without the internet offering this abundance of information and in some cases disinformation. The simplest of questions can send you straight down the rabbithole and you wake up at night pondering resin to glass ratios.
I wish I had a smaller project to make all the mistakes before going head first into a 500-1000 hour project. It would be more gratifying knowing that I'm on the right track to a sound vessel instead of questioning whether I'm just creating more work and preparing a repair for a repair. I'm doing this job myself and I'm sure there are numerous boat builders winging it like I've done that can relate to these sentiments, at least when you started out.
I might come off as incompetent, which I suppose is a fair assessment, but I do my best and I'm learning. You can read until the cows come home, but as far as I'm concerned getting your hands dirty and making your own experiences is the key.
As I retrospectively started researching balsa core repairs I realized I had dug myself a huge time pit if not also a money pit. I learned about 12:1 bevels and that I had made cuts in the wrong places, that proper core bonding is virtually impossible for the DIYer, delamination will occur, the epoxy will not allow the deck to flex, polyester will not bond and so on and so forth.
As far as I've learned you can set out to do boat repairs the correct way as described in books and according to best practices and consensus on sites like boatdesign.net. But being my first project it's hard to relate when you haven't actually done it before. So I've opted for the other way, reading, interpreting, altering and adapting the information to fit my specific problems, trying, failing and praying that it simply will be good enough. The good old good enogh.
I would be exaggerating if I said the job is almost done, but I am slowly getting nearer a recored and relaminated deck and I guess I'm looking for the universe to tell me that my vessel will not fall apart. I mean, there's probably some voids under my Airex foam core (which is set in epoxy w colloidal silica). The resin to glass ratio is surely off for some of the laminate (too dry before I got the right technique). I've used epoxy so I would think that it should hold up better than if I had chosen polyester.
How sensitive to mistakes is this fiberglass stuff? Is it really rocket science? I mean the more research you do, the more mistakes you realised you've done. I wonder if boatbuilding would be easier without the internet offering this abundance of information and in some cases disinformation. The simplest of questions can send you straight down the rabbithole and you wake up at night pondering resin to glass ratios.
I wish I had a smaller project to make all the mistakes before going head first into a 500-1000 hour project. It would be more gratifying knowing that I'm on the right track to a sound vessel instead of questioning whether I'm just creating more work and preparing a repair for a repair. I'm doing this job myself and I'm sure there are numerous boat builders winging it like I've done that can relate to these sentiments, at least when you started out.
I might come off as incompetent, which I suppose is a fair assessment, but I do my best and I'm learning. You can read until the cows come home, but as far as I'm concerned getting your hands dirty and making your own experiences is the key.
