The upper panels

I began by removing the duct tape from the lower chines and bow. It all looked good, except for an area about 18-24" long where the panels were misaligned. As you can see, it is about 1/4" at its worst. This is just something to fix. An asymmetrical depression on the bottom will probably affect tracking.


I am not going to make the mistake of relying on the duct tape again. I drilled every 6-12" and used tie-wraps. The tie-wraps pulled the panels into alignment everywhere except about 6" form the ends. The upper panels wanted to pull inside the chine panels at those points, so I forced them into alignment with blocks. There is a trick using dowels or pipe under the tie-wraps. I'll do that next time.

Next I primed the area with epoxy, and let it sit a little while. Then I spot welded with putty between the stitches. In a few places I covered a tie-wrap with putty by accident, but later discovered that the epoxy won't bond to the nylon so I just pulled them out after cure. Of course, the upper chine is easier to fillet than the lower chine, being flatter.

After the spots were cured, I removed the tie-wraps, and made the fillets. I left the tie-wraps in the bow, and put the bow fillets in in 3 layers, shaping again with the back of a spoon.

I taped the joints while the fillets were tacky. Where I misplaced the tape, reseating it distorted the tape a little.

After the taping, this is how it looked. Notice, also, the panels cut and ready for the D4 on top of the entertainment center.