Bilge Finishing in the 26ft Sportfisherman

I haven't posted about Kevin Agee's 26ft sportfisherman project for awhile. Since we turned the hull over, he and Michelle have been doing the rather awkward work of cleaning up then glassing all of the compartments inside the hull, below wet deck level. With a skin condition that does not get along well with lots of laminating and sanding epoxy/glass, I have stayed away from this work.

Sportfisherman 26 hull in its cradle. All the work is going on inside it now.

All of these bottom compartments have been sanded, glassed and sanded again. The inner hull sides have also been sanded smooth, ready for glassing.

The wide compartments on centreline will serve as the bilge, also housing the tanks, batteries and pumps, so will be finished smooth. The outer compartments will contain foam flotation sealed in, so will be left rough.

Inside the engine bracket has also been glassed.

This photo shows the detail used at the break in the sheer. The two laminated sheer clamps overlap and intersect as they do to give proper control over the shaping of the hull side surfaces and tying in of the sheer clamps with the frames.

The pain of glassing the bilge compartments could have been reduced by glassing both sides of the bulkheads and girders below wet deck level before installing those items into the structure, likely cutting the awkward work in half. But that is the value of hindsight and we know for future builds of this and other power designs that will follow.

This design is not yet on our website. To see our other designs, go to our main website or our mobile website.