Finally Some Epoxy

My build crew has abandoned me for the weekend, so no kickass action shots. Seems things like "working on their own boat" or "snook fishing" in "Tampa" are more exciting that watching me cut out hull panels. It boggles the mind. Anyway, I finally got everything cut out today. Most of the hull panels have to be cut in duplicate, so I stacked one panel on top of another to cut them. The cordless circular saw just couldn't hang, so I just went with a standard model that I own. Much easier. I should have just used that from the beginning. Unfortunately, in my excitement of cutting the very last panel, I forgot that it isn't doubled. I now have two extra tips for the front and tide panels and more stringer material than I need. I ordered one extra sheet in each size of ply to account for any screwups and man did I use the 1/4" one. Oh well. If this is the biggest screw up I make, I'll be pumped. I should be able to use a lot of the pieces as source for cleats and backing plates.

After getting everything cut out, it was time to start glassing. Because I don't have enough room, I have to use the strongback as a laminating table to glue up all my long hull panels before I can set up all the frames for stitching. First I put down plastic, so I don't glue everything to the table.

I aligned one side panel and one bottom panel on the strongback and then shot a few finish nails though them to keep them from moving. The build notes suggest that anywhere a fiberglass splice is made the ply be ground down to aid fairing later. A belt sander or even an angle grinder would be the best tool for this. I had an RO. It took a while, and I'm not sure I took enough off, but I got through one ply anyway.

Please disregard the uneven way the the panels meet. One is cut too fat and I figured it would be better to smooth then after they're joined. Two seems per panel.


Next I laid out everything that I would need to make each splice. A piece of 12 oz. biaxial tape cut to size and a sheet of plastic as poor man's peel ply.

The only experience I've had with glass is the 6 oz. woven cloth on Frank's canoe. This stuff is way burlier, basically two layers of glass at 45 degree angles held together with cotton or linen stitching. It's much more difficult to wet out.

Each joint was precoated with the Silvertip laminating resin. The glass tape was laid on and then resin forced into it with a paintbrush. Then the plastic sheeting was put on and smoothed as best as possible using both hands and a piece of PVC like a rolling pin. A curing splice looks like this.

The excess glass will be trimmed off when the epoxy is "green". This means its partially cured, with a consistency something like that of cheese.


This is where things stand after almost a full day of work. I would really like to reach a point where I can set up the frames and start stitching this week. A little more space would make this step much faster. Hopefully will have a new post tomorrow.