The Frankenstein Junior

That post is for Peter Ross and Ben. It is also for Tim who shared his thoughts on that with me.


That is what I used to reduce the gaps at F53.5 which was definitely the biggest out of all frames. The cable outside of the hull is wrapped around a 30 cm wooden stick that progressively pushes the sides towards the frame as you crank that middle piece.










It worked really well and allowed me to close a good part of the existing gap in a pretty uniform and symmetrical matter, without creating any hollow on the outside part of the hull sides.





It still left me however with a significant gap which I will "twin" later on......

But know that I think about it, I could give it a technical twist and "twin it" with some kevlar cloth I have instead of using plywood strips..... Hum.....not a bad idea. Should be just as strong.



On the pictures below you can see the gap filled with epoxy/silica putty. I used masking tape on one side and "filled" the gap from the other side. As I am not leaving the zip ties in the fillet, I have also placed a few very small patches of fiber glass to hold the frame to the hull.
Once this filler cures, I will aplly a neat micro fillet, let it cure, than remove all ties, apply regular fillet and tape on fresh filet.

I have applied this technique for the hull and it gave me very good results with no need to sand.