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(Continued from page 4)
Next just sit the hull aside and let the glue dry overnight to achieve full hardness. If the glue is only partially set the wood may come free of the fiberglass if the clamps are removed prematurely or if it is moved too much.
2.1.3 Step 3 - Marking the penetrable areas and cutting out windows. First by some 3/8" wide and some ½" wide masking tape. Run a strip of ½ wide tape even with the top edge of the hull. Next check the plans to locate the water line then measure from the bottom of the hull up to one inch below the water line. With this measurement in mind sit your hull on a flat surface and make several pencil marks along the length to mark the 1" below the waterline mark. Then run a piece of the ½" wide tape along the bottom side of the pencil marks. Next consult you clubs rule on how much of the bow and stern can be left impenetrable. In the MBG as much as possible should be made penetrable with a hard limit of no more the 10% of the total water line length of the ship can be divided into bow and stern impenetrable areas. If you got a 50" hull you can have up to 5" split between the bow and stern. Mark of the appropriate vertical marks for the bow and stern areas and place ½" wide tape on the impenetrable side of the marks. You now have a big rectangle marked off on each side. Starting in the rear of the ship place a mark on the top and bottom tape every three inches. Then tear off a piece of 3/8" wide tape and place it vertically between each set of marks. These will be the "ribs" of your ship. To keep myself sane I draw a big X with a red marker inside the squares formed by the above process, as these are the pieces of hull to be removed. Next drill a 3/16" hole through all four corners of each of these squares. Yes that is a lot of drilling, but the reasoning is first it prevents you from accidentally cutting through your rib with your dremel cut-off wheel and second the round corner will resist cracking better than a 90 degree intersection. Now use a dremel and cut-off wheel to saw through the hull. You will want to use a respirator since fiberglass dust is as bad or worse than asbestos.
3.1.4 Step 4 - Reinforce the fiberglass ribs (optional) Depending on the original thickness of your fiberglass hull you may want to reinforce the "ribs" left behind by the above process. In general if you have 1/8" of fiberglass you do not need to reinforce the ribs. If you choose to do so you should epoxy/clamp a 3/8 piece of wood behind each rib as described above for the caprail.
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