Saturday, February 23, 2008

Pouring the daggerboard keel insert

I estimated the volume of epoxy required to cover the keel insert area and cut up as fine as I could some of my s-glass cloth to mix in with the resin to add some reinforcement. I can make the following observations from the pour.

The s-glass fibers tended to clump a bit in the mixture, (should have been a warning sign) and when deposited at the bottom of the case, it did not flow very well. So with this observation and the process begun, I used a flashlight and peering down the case I deposited the mixture in a fashion akin to bombing raid over the length of the keel insert area. It's quite possible I did not chop the fibers enough or I added too much. If I could do it again I might just use cabosil and make sure the mixture was thin enough to flow properly.

It's cured now and I've checked the height of the pour. Best way I could think of is to use a tape measure making measurements relative from outside to inside down the length of the daggerboard case. It looks like the height varies from 20 to at one point just approaching 30 mm. I think the 30 mm high areas will be cut out with the 'A' section daggerboard profile, so I think I am OK. But I'm imagining getting in there with a dremel tool if need be.

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