We did glass work today and it was a struggle. I cut a small hole in the front of the rudder bottom for a grommet for wires to strobe. (Image #1) Then we cut a hole in the back of the rudder bottom for the strobe to enter. I used a hole saw and did a little sanding and it came out OK. In the RVator, it recommended placing a "dollop" of fiberglass to hold the screws on the strobe in place. Claude did this while I worked on the gap at the front of the rudder top. We added flox to the mix for the strobe but still had a time with it running. Finally Claude hurried the setting by heating it with a hair dryer. I went back later and sanded it down with a Dremel drum sander and it seemed to work OK. We got some one-inch screws that we feel will have more area to grip in. I ground off the tip of the screw to a point and we hope that this will self-tap the fiberglass when we drill it undersized. The RVator declares this will work but I think that I will not completely depend on it and will stick the base of the strobe with GOOP. In Image #3, the gap on the front of the rudder cap seems to be adequately filled with a thick mixture of microballons and epoxy, however I went back later and found that it had all run down into the gap and no longer filled the hole. I wonder if the temp (around 40) was too cold and slowed the setting time. I guess, next time, I will mix the balloons and epoxy even stiffer and heat it with the hair dryer. Fiberglass is FUN!
