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All in all, the layup went well. I did find two small spots where the core did not pull up tight to the outer skin. One is in the top of the port side and the other is in the bottom of the port side. You can see from the glue up pics that I had a bolt in each location and a piece of plywood to cull the pressure, but I guess I could not pull the wood tight enough even with the bolts. I am not sure if my plywood was warped just a bit or if the transom was not built square originally. It would only have needed to be off a half inch along that port side to create the problem. Anyhow, I started Saturday by grinding all the surfaces to be bonded to, and wiped everything with acetone again. I pre-cut all 3 of my 2415 layers before going any farther, so that everything was ready to go. I then made up some filleting mix and filled in any voids between the edge of the transom core and the hull. I then ran a fillet along the joint to ease the corner, and mixed up my first batch of laminating resin. I was able to get the greenhouse up to 70-75 degrees, so my working conditions were actually pretty comfortable. One thing about the FGCI vinylester resin that I liked was it gave plenty of working time. I did not have a gel for about 35-40 mins (kicked at 2%), so there was plenty of time to work out the bubbles in the mat. I brushed resin over the inside of everything, then went to wet out my mat.
The 2415 stitchmat was very nice to work with, however that stuff sucks up a ton of resin. I laid out a flat piece of rigid insulation on two saw horses and spread my pre cut pieces of 2415 out with the mat side up. I wet out the material on the saw horses and then carried them to the boat. Using a combination of my hand and a ribbed roller, I spread the 2415 into its location. I let that layer kick and started all over again. After the second layer, it was time to go out for our first anniversary dinner, so I had to stop. According to the guy at FGCI, you have up to 18 hours between coats with the laminating resin I bought to recoat without grinding, so I felt pretty comfortable waiting until morning to get started again.
Sunday morning the resin had dried tack free, and even though I was still within my 18 hour window, I wanted to grind a little to be sure that the next layer adhered well. I gave everything a quick pass with the 4" grinder and a 36 grit disc, and put the third layer of 2415 on. By 2:00 Sunday the resin had set pretty hard. The transom feels really solid.
Dry fit the knees this weekend. Cut the knees to fit the angle of the transom/hull, and started the grinding to prep for bonding it all together.
