Yep, more tabbing

It seems like I'm finding about three hours each day to make progress on the Alberg. I began around 9 this morning and wrapped up at 11:30, making it 2.5hrs of fiberglassing. I'll be honest: I used to think fiberglassing was kinda cool; now I think it's a bit tedious. Like the grinding before it, I'm eager to get the fiberglassing done.

I glassed in the bulkheads on the port side of the saloon, once again using the unidirectional cloth. There's nothing too interesting to report about that. It went well. One little surprise is just how quickly I'm depleting my recently-purchased gallon of resin. Holy cow, this stuff goes fast - at $100/gallon! Ouch! As I'm tabbing, I find my mind considering cheaper alternatives, then coming back to the foolishness of cutting corners when I'm this far into the project. I'm sure polyester resin would be fine for the "furniture" installations (it's what Whitby used when they installed the bulkheads, etc), but I guess it's frowned upon in the boat rebuilding circles - at least that's my guess. Anyone care to enlighten me? Am I wasting too much money by using West System to install these bits?

Inside of the port settee

Galley ice box bulkhead

Aft end of the galley ice box bulkhead

Starboard settee/galley tabbing

No pictures of today's little bit of fiberglassing, but I filleted and laid tabbing along the outboard edge of the starboard settee and the galley bulkheads. The bulkhead that forms the galley/engine box on the starboard side got a layer of glass on the inboard edge as well.

I bought three yards of unidirectional cloth with matting on the back and cut it into 6" strips about 50" long. I'd planned to use biaxial, but my local marine store had the cloth on hand and it's significantly less expensive.

I lied. Here are a few pictures I took this evening: Nothing too exciting, but...

Outboard side of galley/engine box

Outboard side of starboard settee; center divider/support

Forward outboard starboard settee

(Time: 2.5hrs)

Sanding and bulkheads

Yesterday I continued sanding the cabin. After sanding for about an hour and a half, I decided to rest my shoulders and focus on installing the two main saloon bulkheads. I'd coated the ends of the bulkheads in epoxy a few days prior, so after a water rinse I placed one bulkhead and used a couple shims hot-glued to the hull to hold the bulkhead square and level while I placed fillets around its edges. The port bulkhead in, I did the same to the starboard bulkhead. It feels so incredibly good to have begun reconstruction. This day has been (far) too many years in the making.

The next three pictures are of the sanding progress. The white interior paint was flaking and mildewed in spots. I'm taking the surface back to either fiberglass or what appears to be a lightweight fairing compound Whitby used originally. I'm thinking about using Petit's EasyPoxy when it comes time to paint the interior. In the FWIW department, I timed myself sanding an area approximately 2'x2'. It took me 25 minutes. I estimate there are about five 2'x2' areas remaining on the cabin overhead. That's 2 hours of sanding left to do.