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Nov. 28th, 2022 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scrottieStarted reading the fantasy series that the founder of the MUD named himself after. Holding my nose at parts of it but [spoilers] it was intended to depict horribleness, which is always fraught. Even the best intentioned attempts at counterexamples will appeal to some people, especially impressionable young men. But holding my nose a bit, it's enjoyable and interesting.
Figuring out what to read was a challenge. The series apparently started in the 50s or 60s. It originally grew to a six book series, then the author continued to add books in the middle of the series, including most recently this year, so it has ballooned, and then in addition, he has about a billion other books in a bunch of other series. Then this series was published by five different authors and titles of books were changed over time. Just try to sort that mess out. Wikipedia was helpful once I figured out the encoding they were using for this multi-dimensional information.
Tried to add some fibergalss backing for that elusive second above-the-waterline thru-hull (the below-the-waterline scupper thru-hulls got filled in... those terrified me and when I hauled out and pulled the thru-hulls out, the bedding gluing them in was basically dust and they broke free with no effort, so my terror was justified). I'm out of practise with fiberglass and got cocky and tried to stick too many layers on at once, rationalizing that I could build a pancake of layers both against the hull on what I'd started a day or two ago and also on a piece of parchment paper, wait for them to get nick and thick snot textured, then stick them together. I thought that would solve the problem of too much epoxy at once (it's too cool for the slow cure to develop too much heat or much heat at all) draining out of the fiberglass and leaving a crusty sponge on one side and a crusty slug slime trail of epoxy below it, but what I failed to consider is that too much mass would just down the inside of the hull. This is being done under the icebox (not fridge, but icebook) through an access port in the port cockpit locker with the wetlift muffler removed. A lot of my fiberglass work has been done through small access holes. So, predictably to any non-idiot, the dozen layers of stuff refused to stop just sliding down the hull. I got some plumber's epoxy putty, which kicks hard and sets fast, and started making re-enforcing braces to try to hold the mess up, and it tried to blorp over and around it. I wound up taking the whole mess off twice, building structures to try to support it, and slapping it back on. Eventually I just walked away and re-assembled everything, leaving the result an unknown to be dealt with later. With luck, I can add to it (more carefully) and grind away the worst parts of the mess including support structure, but that's now consigned to some hypothetical future. Haste makes waste. Since this is just backing for a thru-hull, it probably doesn't need to be super watertight. It just needs to support the length of the thru-hull so it doesn't get knocked loose, but the thickness can add to waterproofing. Also grinding a dent out of the outside of the hull for the thru-hull to lay flush and flat may expose some of this in which case it really should be water tight, so I'll plan to later grind around the edges and slap a few layers (no more than two at once) over this mess so far. Epoxy resin like polyester resin requires patience and proper timing. Adding one or two layers at a time is generally pretty easy especially if you pre-wet the work piece and surface, and let them kick a bit to snot consistency (before attaching them and poking it all over with the brush to push air bubbles out). This follows on after the camper where I completely underestimated the amount of force that would be needed to hold large surfaces together, and reglazing a portlight in silicone where I misestimated the ability for air bubbles to get and stay in even as large amounts of silicone was squeezed out.
Often for backing in thru-hulls, wooden or fiberglass donuts will be used to add thickness, not attached any way but clamped in by the thru-hull itself. That seemed inadequate to me for a lot of reasons, some explicitly mentioned in the books. Wood can rot and fail, then the ring clamping the thru-hull in place has nothing to push against. Fiberglass donuts are better but I'd still epoxy them in place and fiberglass the whole thing in, especially on a curved part of the hull like just above the waterline.
The problem with one scupper is that a single leaf will get washed directly over the opening and completely seal it, and hold water in the cockpit for months. The paint and marine ply in the sole don't care for that, and enough water will get up to the instruments, and the diesel fill cap is in the sole of the cockpit. Mostly people worry about scuppers to keep the cockpit from getting swamped by a large wave while underway, fussing about having "enough drainage", but a light rain will swamp the cockpit, so I don't even know. I guess two scuppers means that it'll take two leaves to leave it flooded.
Windy today.
Figuring out what to read was a challenge. The series apparently started in the 50s or 60s. It originally grew to a six book series, then the author continued to add books in the middle of the series, including most recently this year, so it has ballooned, and then in addition, he has about a billion other books in a bunch of other series. Then this series was published by five different authors and titles of books were changed over time. Just try to sort that mess out. Wikipedia was helpful once I figured out the encoding they were using for this multi-dimensional information.
Tried to add some fibergalss backing for that elusive second above-the-waterline thru-hull (the below-the-waterline scupper thru-hulls got filled in... those terrified me and when I hauled out and pulled the thru-hulls out, the bedding gluing them in was basically dust and they broke free with no effort, so my terror was justified). I'm out of practise with fiberglass and got cocky and tried to stick too many layers on at once, rationalizing that I could build a pancake of layers both against the hull on what I'd started a day or two ago and also on a piece of parchment paper, wait for them to get nick and thick snot textured, then stick them together. I thought that would solve the problem of too much epoxy at once (it's too cool for the slow cure to develop too much heat or much heat at all) draining out of the fiberglass and leaving a crusty sponge on one side and a crusty slug slime trail of epoxy below it, but what I failed to consider is that too much mass would just down the inside of the hull. This is being done under the icebox (not fridge, but icebook) through an access port in the port cockpit locker with the wetlift muffler removed. A lot of my fiberglass work has been done through small access holes. So, predictably to any non-idiot, the dozen layers of stuff refused to stop just sliding down the hull. I got some plumber's epoxy putty, which kicks hard and sets fast, and started making re-enforcing braces to try to hold the mess up, and it tried to blorp over and around it. I wound up taking the whole mess off twice, building structures to try to support it, and slapping it back on. Eventually I just walked away and re-assembled everything, leaving the result an unknown to be dealt with later. With luck, I can add to it (more carefully) and grind away the worst parts of the mess including support structure, but that's now consigned to some hypothetical future. Haste makes waste. Since this is just backing for a thru-hull, it probably doesn't need to be super watertight. It just needs to support the length of the thru-hull so it doesn't get knocked loose, but the thickness can add to waterproofing. Also grinding a dent out of the outside of the hull for the thru-hull to lay flush and flat may expose some of this in which case it really should be water tight, so I'll plan to later grind around the edges and slap a few layers (no more than two at once) over this mess so far. Epoxy resin like polyester resin requires patience and proper timing. Adding one or two layers at a time is generally pretty easy especially if you pre-wet the work piece and surface, and let them kick a bit to snot consistency (before attaching them and poking it all over with the brush to push air bubbles out). This follows on after the camper where I completely underestimated the amount of force that would be needed to hold large surfaces together, and reglazing a portlight in silicone where I misestimated the ability for air bubbles to get and stay in even as large amounts of silicone was squeezed out.
Often for backing in thru-hulls, wooden or fiberglass donuts will be used to add thickness, not attached any way but clamped in by the thru-hull itself. That seemed inadequate to me for a lot of reasons, some explicitly mentioned in the books. Wood can rot and fail, then the ring clamping the thru-hull in place has nothing to push against. Fiberglass donuts are better but I'd still epoxy them in place and fiberglass the whole thing in, especially on a curved part of the hull like just above the waterline.
The problem with one scupper is that a single leaf will get washed directly over the opening and completely seal it, and hold water in the cockpit for months. The paint and marine ply in the sole don't care for that, and enough water will get up to the instruments, and the diesel fill cap is in the sole of the cockpit. Mostly people worry about scuppers to keep the cockpit from getting swamped by a large wave while underway, fussing about having "enough drainage", but a light rain will swamp the cockpit, so I don't even know. I guess two scuppers means that it'll take two leaves to leave it flooded.
Windy today.
