Technobabbling: The Futile Foolish Fruitless Following of Fad and Fashion, the New Rude, and Finally Finishing the Fantastic Fillets

I seem to be unstuck from my culture, or (probably) I never was stuck in the first place, being at heart a quasi-Luddite. Technology to me seems mostly superficial and unnecessary. I never was a game player and ran from trends and fashion all my life. Sure, I use the computer and interweb (it's where this blog lives), I have a cell phone ($21.00 every 90 days) that I mostly don't turn on. I read books on my Kindle (no library). I don't have much social media: this blog and Wharram Builders. I don't need the other stuff. My friends don't read this site, let alone if I were on splashbook and twaddle. The so called freedom of cruising is about escape not connection.

 I prefer ergonomics; no technology is ergonomic these days, teeny buttons, black on black that you barely can find and you have to press with your fingernail. My newer model Kindle has a touch screen that activates spontaneously because the edge of the machine is too narrow and my fat thumbs  accidently touch the screen edge causing mahem. It seems that the ubiquitous hand held device is accepted by society and only to me does it seem strange to see people staring at something in the palm of their hand and gesticulating............maybe ithings like to have their bellies scratched, like puppies??? There seems to be some kind of phobia generated by all this technology: the fear of missing something. Yet they sit there staring at the thing oblivious to their surroundings while the world moves around them. Sometimes I wonder which one is the android.  We went to a ball game (base, blew it in the top of the ninth) and many ignored the game and attended to their cellular device. I ended up in two sets of documentary photos, one to the group on my left (Ben & the Boaters) and one to the couple on my left.  The left couple also received a text from their friends saying that they saw us on TV! If you are sitting with friends and their ibaby cries (ibaby, crybaby), you are promptly ignored while they attend to it. The fear if missing out takes over with the justification of "it might be important". I call it the new rude, The overconnected, distracted society. Solitude seems beaten to death.

The idea of a floating home being pushed around by the wind seems more and more appealing.


Hey, thanks to Sergey and Rune for the comments! They represent all my readers: 2.


With the nip of fall in the air (temperature in the low 90's,), we pressed on.............

So now I am going to bore you unto death. We finished up the under gunwale fillets on the port hull (38 feet, two sides - yawn). We were up early so we could avoid the sun and get the epoxy on before the hull heated up and cause the epoxy to get weird. Ben mixed a batch of fillet epoxy. I coated the surfaces with unfilled epoxy.  By volume; 1 part epoxy (mixed 2 parts resin, 1 parts catalyst - it's not West System), 1.5 part silica, normally 1 part, but it's hot and overhead- silica is an anti-sag), 1 part microballoons (0.6 SG) to fatten it up and a touch of poly fibers (again, to make it manageable in this heat), Stir until your arm hurts, both before you add the fillers and after. Ben mixed 6 ounce batches (before fillers). I warned you this would get to you.

So Ben loaded up his trusty zi-plock bag, cut the corner off and started squooshing it into the corner. Next, the fillets had to be shaped with a filleting tool. We have a collection of home made fillet tools shaped from popsicle stick to a 6 inch circle.

This is not just one pass, but several, to get it smooth.

Then a putty knife to clean up the excess, top and bottom. This excess is reapplied further down the boat until every last drop is used. It takes 3 batches of epoxy to do one side.

The fillet then looks like this. Then comes Ben's magic. He waits until the epoxy reaches the fudgy stage. It's a bit sticky yet. He then takes a cup of water and wets his fingers (or thumb) and rubs the surface of the epoxy keeping his fingers wet and moving, else they drag a ditch in the soft, still sticky, epoxy.

With this technique, he can remove rough surfaces, sags, and air bubbles. He has to keep going  back to make sure everything is OK and adjust what isn't. Air bubble removal:

Until it looks like this..........................

A mere four hours later, you're done, the heat is in the 90's and the epoxy will move no longer. The next day we do it again to the other side. Then we had to sand the fillets so they would take paint.

Take a piece of foam insulation and make it round by holding a piece of sandpaper, rough side out against the concave fillet and rubbing the soft foam against it. Now you have a fillet shape sanding block. We also final sanded one side of one hull.

Sanding all nooks and crannies using 60 grit sandpaper and plenty of grease from this:

I wanted to finish up (mostly) the gaffs. But first, we had to make sure the sail pockets would fit. We dragged out the south African sails and fitted on up to a gaff.

Well whaddaya know............they fit! I had to fuss with them a bit. Then come the finishing process. Wait......... I need a whiskey............................................................................... OK, I'm back. Many the world ills could be cured by Bourbon and Branch!

Now comes the godawfull process of coating. If you do not want to wait a day between coats and sanding each step along way, you do this in one swell foop! The process is as follows; coat all four sides and two ends with epoxy (put wax paper under it). Then wait until it tacks up and put another sticky, gooey coat of epoxy on all four sides and two ends. Wait until it tacks up and apply a coat of primer on all said surfaces. We are trying Kilz Adhesion primer, it's supposed to be good Wait until it's relatively dry and put a coat of paint over the epoxy. The tack on tack on tack method is supposed to help bond on the molecular level (big word, small molecule).

Because of the necessity of coating all surfaces and in such short shrift, we get unseen imperfections and drips. We have learned to give up on perfection, say the short, two word, version of the Serenity Prayer (sorry, God) and move on.

God smiles upon us!

The Music♫: Gordon Haskell: How Wonderful You Are""

Sip a whiskey......my treat!