Committed.

So there I was, laying fiberglass. Beautiful sunny day, temps in the 60's outside and the 70's in the garage for the first time this year. Glass is going down nicely, epoxy is flowing and curing just like one would hope. Im working on the wall side of the boat, having finished the car side about an hour ago. Then it happened.

I hear a strange popping sound, like a section of wood relaxing. Pop, crack, pop pop, creak, crack, pop. Instantly, I think "hmm, that can't be good". Well, whatcha gonna do, I have wet glass, a wet edge, and a full pot of epoxy to spread. I figure anything that happened couldn't be so bad.

Before, while I was starting the wall side:



After, when I shot some more pictures and figured out the cause of the popping:



Id love to go off on a swaring fit, throw tools, break things, such and so-forth, but this is one of those problems that just gives you an ulcer. It seems that the joint I glued at 24 degree temps and a heater (with pretty poor alignment) wasn't prepared for the stresses once it warmed to over 70 degrees. Since this occurred under green, still soft glass, it didn't spread or get too out of fair.

Light tells the story, nice weave though:



So naturally, its time to fix it as best we can. The joint was held by the same type of glass on the inside, so who's to say it won't stay together if we get it held in the right position? Time for some creative ingenuity!

Twofold, the bracing, and a shot of the final fiberglassing:



This will be, from now until eternity, known as the "water-passat" clamp.

I sure hope this works.

Here are some gratuitous photos of the boat and the glass work:





I will report back later with the results. Any comments or ideas on keeping this hull fair, please send them, I will post them on this thread.

To answer a commenter's question, I need to have the boat done by the 1st of June because I like my wife and she wants to go out on the lake. She will be in a bikini, fair trade.

That is all.