Matt from The Duracell Project continues his journey of turning the legendary ocean racing sailboat, Duracell, into a comfortable cruising home. In today’s video of the week, he begins the construction of the new cockpit and laminates the cockpit sole using thickened High Performance Epoxy!
Matt Steverson and his wife, Janni, are refitting and restoring the well known racing boat, Duracell and documenting the process along the way! Duracell is an Open 60 Sailboat that is getting the refit of a lifetime, going from a sleek racing style to a more comfortable cruising vessel. One of the first steps to this refit was to redesign and build a larger cockpit.
For most of the cockpit build, Matt is using as much of the old fiberglass that he cut off the boat to build new parts. He first takes apart the cockpit mock-up and uses many of the pieces as templates to build the fiberglass parts. The first piece to build will be the cockpit sole which extends outboard to the hull sides. For the cockpit sole, Matt preps by sanding down any rough spots, cleans the surface of the foam board and pre-cuts the materials for the lamination for an easier process.
To laminate the board, he lays out the first layer of 1708 fiberglass cloth and saturates it with High Performance Epoxy. He spreads thickened epoxy over the foam and continues with the lamination. Once both sides were completed, he carves the board using the deck template he constructed to get the perfect fit. Next, it will be time to glass the whole thing together.
This was also a special week for Matt and Janni. They received an exciting package in the mail with prints, photos, and articles of Mike Plant, Duracell, and the sailing races they completed together. Mike Plant built Duracell and raced it solo nonstop around the planet twice in the late 80s and early 90s. These prints and memorabilia will now have a permanent place inside Duracell to keep its history and spirit alive!
Be sure to like and comment on today’s video of the week and subscribe to The Duracell Project to follow along Mike and Janni’s refit journey as they document it every step of the way! Thanks for watching, enjoy!
