Battery placement

According to the plans, all fixed heavy items should be located in an area centered just forward of the mast bulkhead.  As outrageous that it may seem that any vehicle would contain both lead and carbon fiber, for over one hundred years, you still can't beat lead acid in terms of $/ Ahr. That said, for house power storage, I decided to use two 225Ahr 4D AGM batteries so that I can install one in each hull at the fore/aft center of buoyancy.

Two Deka Sea-Mate 4D AGM batteries

 Here is a photo taken from inside the forward, port side hull looking back towards the stern of the boat.  I used some scrap foam pieces to make a mock battery and after just about scratching the hair off my head, I was able to choose a location to build a battery box. The other battery will be located in the starboard hull; mirror image.

strange lights in the dark.

Today, I noticed a strange phenomenon.  In a darkened portion of the boat, as I pulled a strip of peel ply away, I noticed that a blue-purple light emanated from the separation point.

Since my brother has a masters degree  in organic chemistry, I have asked him to post a comment as to why this happens. click on the comment section below this post.

My guess is that it is similar to what causes this:  try it........

If you are living the American lifestyle, go outside and look under the passenger side floorboard of the car that you drive the most.  Pick up all the loose change that you find.  Tell your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend or partner that you have an important errand to run.  ( if you are single, no need to tell anybody anything).  Drive to the closest all night grocery store and buy yourself a roll of wintergreen lifesavers.  While you are there, stop by  the flower section and also buy a small bunch of flowers.  This will increase the possibility that you will not be alone when you finish your boat. If you are also fortunate enough to have teeth, at night, go to the bathroom mirror.  If you have been affected by the recession and find yourself without a bathroom mirror, you are not alone. If you are living on the streets, you are also not alone. Regardless, at night, go find a side mirror of a large automobile. Take this opportunity to look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that you ARE a good person and that you CAN finish a boat.  Look at the inside of your mouth and with your back teeth, bite down hard on the life saver.  You will see a bright flash of light.  Do not let this frighten you. 

Todays epoxy session

Before mixing any epoxy, I have trained myself to prepare the glass reinforcement pieces before hand. Also, when the need arises to apply double biased tape along the seams of vertical and horizontal surfaces, I have found it easier to first saturate the fabric on a piece of thick plastic sheeting, lifting it off then smoothing it in place by hand.

Here are the containers that I use to mix batches of fillet material.  from right to left:

1.  epoxy resin mixing pitcher ( I usually mix 1 qt part A to 1/2 qt B)

2.  micro balloon / epoxy mixing container ( a 1 gallon jug with the top handle part cut off ) This particular gallon container is made of a very tough and flexible plastic that allows me to bang it on the table the next day to remove all the last work sessions cured epoxy so that I can keep using the same container. 

3.  Zip lock bag holder

4.  spreaders are seen here in the lower part of the photo

pouring the mixed epoxy into the micro balloon mixing container.

To arrive at a mixture with the consistency of peanut butter, I fill the cut off gallon jug right up to the top with micro balloons along with a qt and a half of mixed epoxy.....

after mixing, I scoop the whole glob of fillet material into my zip lock bag.....

 

zip it up, cut off the corner of the bag and the fillet material can be applied in a controlled manner by just squeezing the bag.

Here's an example of an end result using fillet material, epoxy saturated double bias glass tape all topped off with peel ply.  Again, notice the numbers written on both the surfaces and the pieces of reinforcement material to allow me to know where to put all the pieces. In this case, it's bonding the end of the bow tube in place.