Take a deep breath–this is easily a 3-4 hour job. After cutting the cloth to length, it drapes just like the instructions say–the bow drapes smoothly (after several passes of hand rubbing to pull the weave down and forward) and the stern has a fold that must be cut.
I deviated from the instructions on the stern. It seemed to me that you could cut the cloth in a way that would allow about 3″ of overlap on each side. This required glassing one side and then glassing that piece’s overlapping edge around the stern and onto the hull on the other side. Then the opposite side was glassed and it’s overlapping piece glassed over the top of the other overlap and around to the first side. The key here was to make sure the first overlap was wet and tight to the hull, because there is significant moving of the cloth to get it wrinkle free and you don’t want the underneath piece to move.
You can’t avoid a little bald spot at the point where the stern curn makes its sharpest inflection from the bottom of the hull to the actual stern. As a matter of fact, if you elect to overlap the cloth at the stern, you will most likely have to cut the wet cloth a little higher than you estimated when it was dry, putting the bald spot a little further along the keel. But the bald spot trims out nicely with the scraper (and very little sanding) and will later be covered with the sacrificial tape along the keel.
When the glassing is finished, you can barely see the overlap at the stern (it’s just an inch inside the dotted line). Don’t wait too long to cut the draped cloth from the edge of the hull. It comes of nicely with a razor blade after about 10 hours. It’s a real pain after 20 hours.
I built the Pygmy Osprey Std 10 years ago. It still looks great today.
I deviated from the plans when glassing the outside of the hull. The cloth will bond tight to the hull if:
…the cloth is placed on the hull and the resin poured on top & spread. This process pulls the cloth tight to the hull as the resin soaks into the wood. I have seen many failed glassing processes. The cloth must be tight to the hull for strength and looks.
….the process is started as the hull starts to cool. Wood outgasses as it heats, opposite as it cools. Very minimal but it helps.
Epithane is awesome varnish.
George, thats a good idea, but I think it’s risky. I like the mechanical process of rolling the cloth to the hull, although your “soak in” process may work every time. BTW, speaking of outgassing, I didn’t consider it when applying the sacrifice glass to the keel. So I wound up with bubbles between it and the first layer on the hull. I can’t imagine that the bubbles came up through the already cured resin. When I build the double this winter I’ll see if it happens again.