Portions of the topside of the boat are just as susceptible to the rigors of the maritime environment as are the sides and the bottom of the boat, and these areas warranted to application of fiberglass and epoxy to protect them. More specifically, we decided to fiberglass the turtledecks and the cap and rub rails so that they will hold up to the abuse that they’ll see once the dory is in use.
We used the same fiberglass on these areas that we used on the sides and the bottom, simply because we had plenty of it leftover. The application was a little trickier than on the bottoms and the sides of the dory because of the smaller areas and the more compound curves. We found that we needed to round all of the sharp edges so that the fiberglass conformed to the shape of the areas without having a sharp bend. A router made short work of all of the 90 degree angles in these areas. The smoothness of these areas that resulted from all of the sanding we did when completing the rub and cap rails, as well as the turtledecks, also helped.
We started with applying fiberglass and epoxy to the rear turtledeck. After we covered that area, we laid down and applied epoxy to the port and starboard rub and cap rails as seen in the pictures below. We were amazed at how the application of the epoxy allowed the fiberglass to “flow” over compound edges and curves. We also learned that you must minimize adjusting and smoothing the fiberglass once it is set, as it tended to pull away from the wooden surfaces if it was in a tight area or going over a relatively sharp curve. Once it looked fully saturated, in place, and all the air pockets were removed, it was time to move to the next area!
We applied fiberglass in a similar manner to the motor well interior and exterior. Since we did it in rapid succession and our hands were covered with epoxy and fiberglass strands, we did not take any pictures during the process. You can see in the picture below, however, the sheen or reflection on the front of the motor well due to the epoxy fiberglass coating.
With the motor well completed and all of the fiberglass work complete, it was time to paint the boat. We decided to paint the inside and the outside of the boat to make sure we protected the wood the best we could! Click here to see the hull being painted!