This weekends work involved fiberglassing what we have decided has been the hardest part of Luna’s construction. Oddly enough, measuring 72×23 inches, it’s also one of the smallest. The problem is that it contained 17 surfaces, 23 angles, curves, arches, and inverted surfaces. The good news is the poop deck toe rail and transom fashion piece has been completed. All that’s left is fairing and painting. With a little help from epoxyworks illustrations here’s what we faced.
Interior corners had to all be puttied and have a radius built in suitable to lay fiberglass into.
Exterior corner had their edges sanded to a suitable radius to allow the fiberglass to lay smoothly.
Three layers with staggered edges making interior and exterior radius corners.
So here is Luna’s not as clean as the drawing completed transom rail cap.
Luna’s transom toe rail, located at the end of the boat is complete! All thats left to do is fair it in and paint to match.
A side view of the transom railcap. Once the fiberglass was laid on the top we had to round it over the sides, and into all the corners.From the top, over the stern, into a negative angle, following the transom window curve…. easy- right?
In addition to the transom we fiberglassed the poop deck scuppers and got the beds for the steering hydraulics installed!
Somewhat shaggy looking, the scuppers were fiberglassed. the space is so tight that we have opted to let it dry completely, then trim and fair the edges. It’ll take a couple more steps to complete but they are small areas and will work out quicly.The steering hydraulic blocks have been bedded!
We had another great Luna construction weekend with progress being made on the poopdeck and steering system. We had to spend some time Saturday cleaning up and doing some repair work to the construction site from the recent storm and the following down pour the next day. As we see what other tall ship programs are up to, we noticed a common theme- Maintain systems and prevent rot! If you’re not working on either of these you’re ships care can get away from you really quickly!
We’ll begin with the steering system. Steve has been working on this project for a while including having to design the aluminum tiller arm featured in an earlier article and now fabricating extruded fiberglass pads for the hydraulic cylinders to ride on.
The extruded fiberglass pad and wedges to support the high pressure hydraulic steering system. Bedded in place! From this angle you can carefully make out the various shapes machined into the rudder post that will secure the tiller and emergency tiller arms. The tiller arm fits onto the keyway and the emergency tiller fits over the square capIt fits!!!! Here, the cylinders and tiller arm are all fit and riding in position!
Onto the poop deck! Excuse the blue hue, but the tarp is keeping us shaded. To help remove water from the deck we have added three scuppers to each side. Scuppers are openings in the sides of the boat which allows the water to drain instead of pool and cause rot. As we build Luna we constantly look for these potential pooling areas and figure out how to eliminate them, preventing water from getting below or causing rot which is much more than a cosmetic repair.
A close up of the scuppers exterior on the poop deck. The tape line at the bottom keeps us in line with the other scuppers. They are four inches wide and almost two high. The trick is to make them flush with the poopdeck on the inside of the rail and keep them consistent on the outside. Nothing a bit of patience, time and eye for detail doesn’t take care of. A look from inside. The scuppers edges have been puttied to help direct water overboard. They will next be sanded to smooth out the rough spots, fiberglassed to ensure water tightness, then fared in to give a seamless appearance.
So there you have it! This weekends progress. We’ll be back on board this week and have more to share so check in regularly, share our blog and progress on social media and visit our website at www.colonialseaport.org
