Glassing Begins

 First round of fiberglass on the teardrop. I am doing each side separately, and then glass over the top. I'm using 6 oz. cloth all around, with 4 inch overlap on all the edges and the bottom 2 inches curled under the bottom to protect the edge of the ply. I also rolled over the fiberglass in the doorway as seen in the second picture, as that edge is going to get a decent amount of wear. Both sides are glassed and have gotten an additional coat of epoxy to fill the weave of the cloth.

Galley Hatch Framing

 With the ribs cut out of the lamination, they were all clamped into place for the intermediate supports to be installed between them. I liked the idea of having a center rib for mounting things, but that did lead to some asymmetry in the supports due to how they have to be staggered for the clamps.

Galley Hatch Rib Lamination

 The curved ribs for the galley hatch have been puzzling me for a long time, but now that I need to start working on them I've decided to bite the bullet and laminate them. I'm alternating cherry and maple for a 5" wide laminate about 50" long, the idea being to rip individual ribs out on the bandsaw. I did the first three laminates and clamped them onto the form, then added three more onto it and reclamped it. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out; there are a few dry spots to fill, but overall it is quite stiff, plus laminates look amazing when finished.

Second/Third Roof Panels

 Second roof panel is on, as well as the third which is really just a 14" strip. Each went on without any fuss, although the seam between them required some work. There was no stringer under the joint as in the front due to the wiring for the vent fan and hatch light, so I glued in blocks every 8 inches. Even so, the last section warped considerably after painting. The whole section was planed down and the seam glassed over with a strip of biax. The second photo shows the biax curing with some strips over it to hold it down to match the other section. Moving down each edge behind the panels being installed, I've also been planing them down to a radius of around 3/4" to help the glass roll over without lifting up. The bottom edge has been rounded over as well, as I plan to have the glass from each side curl under the edge to protect the bottom edge grain of the plywood. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how well the ACX took the bending around all the radii.