Back at the boat the other day, I got the FRP liner panels cut to size and installed in the box. I had to make paper patterns for the irregular shapes in the refer and freezer sections, but everything fit nice and tight with no significant air gaps. I glued them in place with a thickened epoxy mix, and then filleted the corners the next day with a considerably thicker mixture 0f the same West 105/206 with 404 HD filler. I’ll do the final faring in the corners with 410 ultra-light because it’s easier sanding than the 404.
Our Marina has a cool discount program through Port Supply (shhhhh, it’s a secret), so I ordered up the Awlgrip and a few high-dollar items like BilgeKote and other miscellaneous debris. I can’t believe that a quart of Awlgrip and a pint of the catalyst is almost $180 retail. Man, I pray this turns out OK.
I spent most of today back at home agonizing over interior dimensions, praying that I can curl up the evaporator plate into a small enough package to fit inside of the finished freezer lid and still be able to uncoil the refrigerant lines and feed them through the hole in the engine room bulkhead that I still need to drill. I scribbled out some rough diagrams of how I need to finish glassing
the 2 lids & door I still need to construct and make them fit within the interior rim that I also have yet to fabricate. Figuring for hinges, latches, and lift hardware, as well as making sure that the lids and door will swing within the confines of our tiny galley is killing my brain. Ughhhhh!
I started tearing this thing apart and re-building it just over a month ago. My best guess is roughly 70-80 hours of actual work so far, not counting sidetracks such as chasing down materials, Mother’s Day BBQ & the Delta Loop Fest, and waiting on epoxy resin to “kick”.