1965 Alcort Sunfish WAVE 09 Dec 20 Deck/Hull Seam Adhesive

09 Dec 20:

Sandbags off, deck shape looks great.

I should let Skipper order fabric, she knows what she is doing and I MIGHT have over-ordered. 5 square yards of 6 oz fiberglass cloth and about 12 square yards of woven roving. Might be able to build another boat.

Jamestown Distributors sends out these nice mixing cups, and we highlight the ratio we are using so we can find the right column easily while pouring. Today it was 5:1 Epoxy. Resin to Hardener. Ignore the last 1.

We used Great Stuff expanding foam to adhere the top front of the structural blocks to the underside of the deck. It will work fine as long as we don't let water fill the hull for extended periods, it is not closed cell and would eventually absorb water. We used it here because we didn't want to split any more seam than was already split, and the deck could only be raised so high.

Put down a bead of THIXO Wood thickened epoxy then laid a one inch wide strip of fiberglass cloth. The cloth helps distribute and hold the epoxy in the seam, a tip given to us by Howie, who repaired built Sunfish for 18 years at Alcort then AMF, and then did another 10 years of warranty repairs.

Skipper wet out the cloth with TotalBoat 5:1 High Performance Epoxy

We used a syringe to inject thickened epoxy into the deck/hull seam when the gap got small.

New adhesive to fasten Capn Jack's bow handle stainless repair plate to the deck, that was his fix to where a previous bow handle had torn off and left a hole in the bow. We added a strip of fiberglass cloth to act as a catch basin for a THIXO blob, that will fill and seal the hole. Just to confuse you I have the stainless plate turned around facing the wrong way.

Hmmmm, Float Test or fairing and sanding next? Maybe an air leak test...

Alan sent WAVE and PHOENIX some bow trim.

WAVE's peeking outside...

Log of WAVE.

1965 Alcort Sunfish WAVE 04 Dec 20 Jigsaw Puzzle Sunfish Style

 04 Dec 20:

Let the jigsawing begin. 2 decks to make one.

Skipper scribed the cut line for the new deck piece using a calibrated Sharpie.

I tried to talk Skipper into leaving this as the finish scheme, but she wants to paint the new piece to match.

We cut out the new deck piece then used it to draw lines for an internal backer plate.

The new deck piece will rest on the hull flange and backer plate. 

Aft section of backer plate fastened with TotalBoat 5:1 High Performance Epoxy, thickened with silica filler to peanut butter consistency.

Sanded the seam of the replacement deck piece to remove old polyester resin. 40 grit on a DeWALT 20 Brushless random orbital sander, dust extraction with the Porter Cable cordless wet/dry vac.

WAVE's bow fastened to the deck with THIXO Wood thickened epoxy. Why Wood? Because we had some. It is the same as THIXO but has wood flour added to better match wooden boat repairs. WAVE thinks she is a wooden boat now. Skipper used her rubber mallet to tap the bow piece back into position, we were able to mate up the fractured edges of the bow piece nad deck using the stripes as alignment marks. Dry clamped for now. PHOENIX waiting patiently for her turn, glad that WAVE is the guinea pig.

Fastened the bow piece to the backer plate with THIXO Wood light clamping. Sandbag is keeping the new seam flat, filled with QUIKRETE 50-lb Play Sand. It is important to use QUIKRETE 50-lb Play Sand because....you're still reading....For more info visit www.icantbelieveifellforthis .com

Backer plate epoxied, clamped and drying.

Bow refastened with THIXO Wood thickened epoxy. 

Sandbag to keep the seam flat.

While the epoxy is drying, we piered out another 8 feet.

The end is far away. And the cone.

New flag in the near future, we'll be able to get to it from the dock instead of the Sharknoe!

Log of WAVE.