A colleague at work asked “how many hours do you have invested in the project so far” and I couldn’t answer the question immediately. I think this is a big question for everyone and I will post the time with each new entry from here on.
An hour will be an hour regardless of rather it’s just myself or Stephanie and I both working that period but, if there are several helpers I will note it. I would guess that so far the participation has been 90/10. That’s Stephanie helping out about 10%
Hours to date: 58
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Oh how work gets in the way…
My paying gig is getting in the way of my boat building.
We took on an unusually large project at work and the lead-time is short so we’ve been working some long hours leaving little personal time. This should come to an end any day now and it will be nice to get back to the SB 18.
What we have accomplished since my last post has been mostly prep work. We spot-welded the panels as discussed earlier, removing the stitches after the epoxy had set up and cured for a day. I then took the belt sander and using 80-grit paper took the edge off all the joints and rounded to about 3/8”. Not having a lot of energy after the long workdays, I then filled the seams with thickened epoxy. I like to use wood flour whenever I can for thickening and this is what was used here and in the spot welds. These are not structural joints and the wood flour is easy to sand and shape. You could do this step as you are taping the seams but as I said I knew I would only put a short time in on the project so let this cure overnight. The next evening I sanded the seams a second time getting a fair rounded edge on all chines. The fiberglass tape should lay nicely over this and the extra effort here will help ease the faring latter on.
Here’s were it got ugly. The next day was all work and the boat sat pitifully in the shop for 48 hours. I was a wreck. Knowing that there were things to do and none of it taking place, I couldn’t concentrate on work. I couldn’t sleep well at night, so this evening when I got home a little earlier; I immediately went to work on the boat. After setting so long I needed to wash and sand lightly just in case any amine blush had formed on the epoxy. I didn’t notice any but I don’t take chances here. It only took about 20 minutes using acetone to wipe it down and then; a quick sand using the orbital sander and 80-grit paper I was back on track.
It was finally time to start putting some fiberglass tape on this boat. I mix my epoxy with an old drill that was dropped from the top of a job and broke the handle. I was able to glue it back together but it now stays in the garage for paint and epoxy mixing. If you can find a cheap drill to mix with get it but I can’t recommend a good drill, as it will most certainly end up covered with epoxy. Remember though that you don’t want to mix in a lot of air so either a variable speed drill or even better the type with variable high-low speeds. Using the drill on low I can mix epoxy efficiently and quickly. Rather than a store bought mixer I fashioned one from some heavy gauge wire. A little thicker than a coat hanger the stuff holds it’s shape well. Just picture a flat top question mark and that’s what it looks like. The store bought mixer is fine if you like but my homemade model gets to bottom better and is shorter, only about 6” long.
For the best result you want to coat the plywood with epoxy before covering. This will allow the plywood to soak up the epoxy so that it doesn’t wick it away from the fiberglass and leaving an epoxy starved bond. While this can be done ahead it’s a good practice to work wet on wet here. So I rolled on the epoxy with a foam roller 6” both sides of the joint and laid out the 12 oz. fiberglass tape I had pre measured and cut to the desired length. Now you need to brush on the epoxy over the tape. Starts on the high side, if there is one, allowing gravity to work for you, also always pull from dry to wet when brushing. The fiberglass tape should end up clear but don’t but so much epoxy on that it turns immediately. You will want to work it in good and if you have one roll it with an epoxy-laminating roller. I buy inexpensive 2” chip brushes in bags of 15 for this kind of work. They are cheap enough that if your mix starts to gel on you can just through it away.
I have 2 of the chines taped now and should sleep well tonight knowing that the boat project is again underway.
Now I wonder, should I take the day off from that paying gig?
Next time…Plans updates and a brief evaluation on the Marinepoxy. Glassing the bottom is the next major step.
We took on an unusually large project at work and the lead-time is short so we’ve been working some long hours leaving little personal time. This should come to an end any day now and it will be nice to get back to the SB 18.
What we have accomplished since my last post has been mostly prep work. We spot-welded the panels as discussed earlier, removing the stitches after the epoxy had set up and cured for a day. I then took the belt sander and using 80-grit paper took the edge off all the joints and rounded to about 3/8”. Not having a lot of energy after the long workdays, I then filled the seams with thickened epoxy. I like to use wood flour whenever I can for thickening and this is what was used here and in the spot welds. These are not structural joints and the wood flour is easy to sand and shape. You could do this step as you are taping the seams but as I said I knew I would only put a short time in on the project so let this cure overnight. The next evening I sanded the seams a second time getting a fair rounded edge on all chines. The fiberglass tape should lay nicely over this and the extra effort here will help ease the faring latter on.
Here’s were it got ugly. The next day was all work and the boat sat pitifully in the shop for 48 hours. I was a wreck. Knowing that there were things to do and none of it taking place, I couldn’t concentrate on work. I couldn’t sleep well at night, so this evening when I got home a little earlier; I immediately went to work on the boat. After setting so long I needed to wash and sand lightly just in case any amine blush had formed on the epoxy. I didn’t notice any but I don’t take chances here. It only took about 20 minutes using acetone to wipe it down and then; a quick sand using the orbital sander and 80-grit paper I was back on track.
It was finally time to start putting some fiberglass tape on this boat. I mix my epoxy with an old drill that was dropped from the top of a job and broke the handle. I was able to glue it back together but it now stays in the garage for paint and epoxy mixing. If you can find a cheap drill to mix with get it but I can’t recommend a good drill, as it will most certainly end up covered with epoxy. Remember though that you don’t want to mix in a lot of air so either a variable speed drill or even better the type with variable high-low speeds. Using the drill on low I can mix epoxy efficiently and quickly. Rather than a store bought mixer I fashioned one from some heavy gauge wire. A little thicker than a coat hanger the stuff holds it’s shape well. Just picture a flat top question mark and that’s what it looks like. The store bought mixer is fine if you like but my homemade model gets to bottom better and is shorter, only about 6” long.
For the best result you want to coat the plywood with epoxy before covering. This will allow the plywood to soak up the epoxy so that it doesn’t wick it away from the fiberglass and leaving an epoxy starved bond. While this can be done ahead it’s a good practice to work wet on wet here. So I rolled on the epoxy with a foam roller 6” both sides of the joint and laid out the 12 oz. fiberglass tape I had pre measured and cut to the desired length. Now you need to brush on the epoxy over the tape. Starts on the high side, if there is one, allowing gravity to work for you, also always pull from dry to wet when brushing. The fiberglass tape should end up clear but don’t but so much epoxy on that it turns immediately. You will want to work it in good and if you have one roll it with an epoxy-laminating roller. I buy inexpensive 2” chip brushes in bags of 15 for this kind of work. They are cheap enough that if your mix starts to gel on you can just through it away.
I have 2 of the chines taped now and should sleep well tonight knowing that the boat project is again underway.
Now I wonder, should I take the day off from that paying gig?
Next time…Plans updates and a brief evaluation on the Marinepoxy. Glassing the bottom is the next major step.
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