Ama Progress

The ama has been making good progress.  The keel panels went on.  Next the seams got cleaned up and filled where the wires had been.  The wire holes were closed.

A main task before moving on was fairing the chines, bow and keel.

Here is a bow filled and capped with a thin strip of glass.  I wanted to fully close the seam.

The bows and keel were about 20mm wide when joined.  The square shape did not look too sleek, so I decided to add a foam nose piece. The top picture show the foam glued over the glass, while the bottom is after shaping.  This is Divinycell H80.  It is strong, though I worry about cosmetic damage in minor bumps.

On the keel, I used the same concept with a strip of plywood.  The plywood has the corners on one edge rounded over.  A thin bullnose was then ripped on the table saw.  #17 finish nails are place prior to gluing.  The nails will act as alignment guide once the strip is wet.  Tape at 2 inch intervals worked pretty well as clamps.  I used fast hardener and added a little 5 minute epoxy to get the glue to stick and kick faster. This is a trick off of the West System site.  Sanding then faired it into the keel panels.

Here is the glass draped and partially smoothed.

The intersection of the bow and keel fairings.

The cloth has been wet out with a roller.  This shows how the bulkhead tabs were glued to the hull panels.

Here is the hull drying prior to the first fill coat.  The skirt will be trimmed off of the shear before the epoxy fully cures.  The skirt is also handy for catching epoxy runs during wet out.

Task time: 50 hours

Total project time: 660 hours