Today I fiberglassed the bottom. Here is pictured two strips of fiberglass cloth being laid out so that it overlaps about a foot centered over the keel. This is set up to provide increased tension strength crosswise to the keel to resist splitting.

Since it was quite hot I decided it was a good idea to cool the epoxy. In the past I had trouble. I had mixed an oz to use and it quickly got too hot to touch and it kicked off in a big hurry. I needed it to stay liquid for at least 10 minutes so I could mix it and spread it.

The method here was to lay one strip of cloth on the starboard side first. Then mix two oz of epoxy at a time and pour it on top of the cloth. Then I rubbed it in with my hand - with a latex glove on, of course. It would quickly wet out the fiberglass and soak into the wood making it look like it was oiled. The fiberglass became almost completely transparent. I could see down into holes were I had recessed screws and filled in with epoxy. Each batch wetted out about 1 1/2 sqft. It took a couple of hours to wet out the entire cloth.

Next I rolled out the port side cloth. It started sticking to the other cloth creating difficulties getting it flat. I succeeded. I have never before used so much epoxy in one day.

At the end of the day I had the cloth done and the keel installed. I went to the store and bought a 2x8x16 plank for the skeg. On the way home it rained. I guess it can't wait to get in the water.