Update

After hooking up 5 of the cells, we tested our branch and got a volt reading of 15-17. This should have lit up our lightbulb, but it didn't. We are attaching two more of the cells and will try again after that. Currently, we are not quite sure of the problem-- maybe a loss of amps stemming (haha no pun intended) from the hookup of the cells. The fiberglass coating is nice and sturdy (go courtney!) and we'll begin texturizing with bondo after we troubleshoot.