Sunday, August 05, 2007

Hull joint


Hull join
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
I don’t like leaky boat. No-one does really, especially if they are full size ones, but in this case my ire is reserved for leaky model boats. With the real thing you can poke around in the hull and spot where the water is coming in. All you get on a model most of the time is a pool inside when you get it back from the lake. Then you have to spend an age trying to second guess the problem.

This quickly leads you to believe the pagans were right. Water is a spirit and it’s the spirit of mischief. The area with the hole will be dry – liquid gathering elsewhere to deceive you. How much fun is it fiddling around sealing joints that are good and ignoring the dodgy ones ? None at all thank for asking.

Anyway, sticking a couple of half hulls together seems like a recipe for disaster to me, a long joint most of which will be below the surface ? Good idea…

So having glued my hull, I’ve now filled the outside of the whole join with car body filler. This is smoothed down carefully and I hope will be invisible under the paint. Inside some nice runny epoxy glue has been stuffed everywhere my poking matchstick can find, hopefully to fill the voids and keep the water out.

Stay tuned boat modelling fans to see if this all makes a difference or if I’m building the worlds fist submarine trawler !

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