Fairing the curves
By far the best tool for spotting
irregularities is a critical eye. Get down low
to the surface you’re examining and look
at it from every angle and you’ll spot
problems that evade a simple glance.
Hands work well too: when you’rePRACTICAL ROUNDING THE BILGES
sanding, run a hand over your work
regularly to fi nd small bumps and hollows.
There are ways you can help your eyes,
however. The instructions which come
with the boat kit suggest drawing a grid
over the whole boat before using a
longboard (sandpaper attached to –
you’ve guessed it – a long board) to give
the hull an initial sand. The board will
bridge across any high points, removing
the grid, while leaving the marks
untouched in any hollows.
Mike Pickles, foreman at Harbour
Marine Services in Southwold and regular
author of our ‘View from the Boatyard’
column, recommends simply scribbling
over the area to be faired before
using the longboard.L
ast month, we explained how
we built up the chine panels
on our project Secret 20 using
cedar strip and epoxy. Aided by
a little fi ller, this approach got us most
of the way to completing the required
curve, but they still needed fairing to
get them to their fi nal shape.
Other areas which still needed careful
shaping were the angle between the keel
and the bottom hull panels, the stem and
the transition between the 6mm midships
hull panels and the 4mm bow panels.
Additionally, the entire hull needed
checking for high and low spots, and
fairing as required. Fairing is one of those
jobs that can go on for ever, with endless
rounds of fi ller and interminable sanding –
and, to coin a phrase, you reach the ‘sod
it and move on’ stage. We’re not quite
there yet – there are a few more rounds of
fi ller to go – but it’s not far off!Casting a critical eye over the project boat’s lines, David Pugh and
Ben Meakins set to work fi lling and fairing to make the hull smooth
How to spot highs and lows
Longboards made short work of fairing