How to Skin a Ship - Part 2

After covering the windows I cut in the fiberglass hull with a balsa skin the Admiral and chief financier of the build (my wife) reported that the hard basswood edging was too harsh looking. So in this post I will show how I blended the balsa siding in with the lines of the ship. In my case we decided that the bottom edge looked fine. So all I needed to do was blend the edges at the bow and stern. This step is optional but makes for a cleaner looking ship.

I've not done this before on a fiberglass hull so watch for follow-up posts describing problems that come up relating to the long term maintenance of the ship's skin.

This is part of my series of posts on building SMS Nassau. However, this post really applies to any warship. If you are just learning how to build a Big Guns warship and are trying to learn how to build the hull I recommend you read the following articles as well. Together they will walk you through the prep work needed to skin your ship.

• How to Mark a Fiberglass Hull
• How to Cut a Fiberglass Hull
• Stuffing Tubes and Rudder Posts
• Skin Edging Installed (optional)
• How to Skin a Ship - Part 1
• How to Skin a Ship - Part 2
• How to Skin a Ship - Part 3

Tools & Materials You May Need

• Small bits of balsa or basswood
• Gap filling super glue
• Exoxy Paste
• Small plastic knife for spreading paste

Standard Disclaimer

It is your responsibility to keep yourself safe. I may not have listed all the precautions you should take. You should do your own research to insure that you are keeping yourself safe. I am only describing what I was comfortable doing.

Step 1: Prep the Surface

If you didn't prep the surface as part of skinning the hull then you should do so now. First you need to do is sand down the fiberglass surface. You will get a lot better bond if you completely remove any shine the fiberglass hull had. It is also important that you remove all oils from the hull. I wiped my hull down with a rag soaked in mineral spirits and then with a wet rag.

Step 2: Fill With Wood

You need to cover the area to be blended with balsa or basswood to the same thickness as your ship's skin. Odds are that the parts of the hull you are doing this too have sever bends. So you will need to build up using multiple layers or small pieces. I opted for small pieces as it should make sanding easier later.

Step 3: Rough Sand Wood

Now you need to sand the wood down to the shape needed.

Step 4: Fill with Paste

Now you need to fill in all those seams, cracks, etc. with some epoxy paste. You will not want to use epoxy putty for this as it is too thick to apply. You also want to be very careful to keep all the epoxy away from the balsa skin for the penetrable area. You also want to err on the side of applying to much - you can cut and sand away the extra later.

What's Next

The epoxy paste I used takes 24 hours to dry. The next step will be using wood filler to close any gaps before finish sanding and silk spanning.