Making the Keel Smooth

Last night and this morning was spent sanding, sanding, and more sanding. The lines from the fiberglass tape were visible and I wanted to smooth everything down as much as possible. I then added one more layer of epoxy to fill all exposed fiberglass cloth from the sanding and to smooth everything out. The sides were not completely epoxied because there will be tape added with the keel is attached to the bottom. If you look closely at these photos and the ones from before, you should be able to see the difference where the fiberglass tape is.

I was going to do the bottom next, but I think I will go ahead and make the transom. I will need two 2x6's and one 2x4 for the jig to bend and epoxy the transom pieces together, so off to Lowes I goes.

Keel Fiberglassed

After several more weeks off for traveling and things, I have finally got to fiberglassing the keel exterior. First, I put four inch fiberglass tape on all of the corners, and then put one layer of fiberglass over the entire keel. In the close-up picture, you can seen the four inch around the corners.

I then applied at least three more layers of epoxy on everything to smooth it out. Most of it is now glass smooth.

After it has dried one more day, I will sand most of it down to smooth it out and apply some fairing material to make it look better.

I now need to get started on the bottom of the boat!