BYYB Forums

Epoxy Arrives! 


Bottom screws removed.  I'm leaving the nails holding the topsides to the moulds until I finish filling and getting the bottom sorted out.



A series of pics of problem areas to be worked-

This one is not too bad, need to cut some bits to fill those gaps mostly.






[img=448x600]https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/309256_10151232305597952_1658583991_n.jpg[img]



What a difference a jack plane makes!


Obligatory side view (apologies for the poor focus)-

Filling all the gaps and nail holes  :o




Ran out of putty here.  Back to the Home Depot...

I would fill those with epoxy with wood flour or even micro balloons or talc.  It will give you practice with the epoxy before you start making big batches and not shrink after curing like some putties do.

Haha!  It's funny that you mention that because I've been experimenting with, and failing utterly at, epoxy filling.  Couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong until tonight.  When I purchased my epoxy, I got the 4.5 gallon kit.  3 gallon jugs of epoxy, 1 gallon plus one half gallon jug of hardener.  All gung-ho to get to the magic of turning things into plastic, I grabbed the half gallon jug of hardener and reached into the box and grabbed one of the gallon jugs.  I should a bought a lottery ticket that night, because I nailed the 1 out of 4 chance and picked up the full gallon of hardener.  Don't ask me how I missed the label.  I called myself checking them, but I guess the heat of the moment blinded me. 

Still waiting for those two drippy pieces of wood to harden up.  Any day now.....

(have to go back to the Gugeon Bros. book to find out how to remove hardener from that absurdly expensive pump.)

:-[

I tried the pumps and quickly decided they were not for me.  Maybe if you are doing repeated large batches they might come in handy but the ones I got with my epoxy dripped and oozed making the mixing area messy and they were not as accurate as I like so I had to pump them into some form of measure.  Others may like the pumps but I sure didn't.  I just poored from the bottles or cans into whatever I was using to measure.  Small batches I used measuring spoons, larger batches I used plastic glasses.

For small batches to use as putty I used plastic mixing spoons for measuring and paper childrens cereal bowls to mix in.  Two tablespoons of resin, one of hardner, mix it for at least a minute to get it right then added in 2-3 heaping spoons of wood flour.  Using picnic type plastic teaspoons I stirred until it was completely mixed then used teaspoon to fill the holes or patch areas.  I would used a plastic paint scrapper to remove excess epoxy puty.  When finished I would wipe the measuring spoons out with a paper towel with vinigar on it as well as the plastic paint scraper.  Pitch the plastic teaspoon, paper cereal bowl and paper towels in the trash after any left over amount was hardened someplace safe.  Epoxy gets hot when it cures.  A left over batch will get to hot to hold in your hand when it starts to activily cure.  I don't know if it would ever get hot enough to combust paper in a garbage can but leaving any excess in those cereal bowels on the cement floor for a few hours eliminated any concern.  I tried fast, medium and slow hardners.  After trying them all I stuck with slow, nonblush, hardner for all my epoxy work.  I liked the work time it gave me before starting to set and didn't see where a few less hours of cure time would make any difference.

Don't worry about mistakes like you made.  you will make a few more before you are done.  I actually glued my shoe to the plywood I layed on the floor to avoid epoxy drips on the cement.  I was using fast hardner and unknowingly stepped in a large drip on the plywood.  It set up while I was gluing up some small pieces and coating the insides of the pieces for my mast box.  When I went to move I was stuck.  I pulled the shoe away and the top layer of the plywood came with it.  The beauty of epoxy is it penetrates making the joint stronger then the wood in most cases.  The plywood wore off the shoe after a couple of trips to and from the house to the shop.  It's about 100 yards and a gravel drive.

(09-11-2012, 04:54 PM)Terry Peterson link Wrote:. . . I used plastic mixing spoons for measuring and paper children's cereal bowls to mix in . . .

Making your children eat from epoxy coated cereal bowls is just way to serious for me. I mean I've been tough on mine, but I usually just mixed saw dust into their cereal, rather then actually making them eat from epoxy laden bowls. A little extra fiber in their diets never hurt anything and I saved some cereal costs too. I got pretty good at it too, as they actually thought the fried chicken I was so good at making, was rolled in bread crumbs. Sprinkles on ice cream was where I drew the line, mostly because the saw dust changed color and I'd would have been found out, so I just continued with my usual route of calling it wheat germ or something. You're obviously way more into it than me Terry.

To avoid redundant posts, check out the photoshop'esque paint experiments in this topic in the Shop Tips forumNo Risk Paint Samples

Let me know which ones you like/hate.

Ordered fiberglass after the excruciating wait for the next paycheck.  20 yards x 50 inches of 10 ounce woven, and 5 yards x 30 inches of 4 ounce.  The 4 ounce will be cut into ~6 inch strips.  These will be used to cover the sheer strake.  Then, the 10 ounce fabric will cover the rest of the boat, which will be painted, while the sheer strake will be clear coated. A rub rail will cover the transition between the two finishes.

I use the pumps and have had no problems.  As to the mess, I keep the gallon jugs (4 of them: three different hardeners and one of resin) in a cardboard box sized to fit with some newspaper in the bottom.  The drip and ooze issue is really a non issue.  The pumps allow quick mixing of large batches, and precise dispensing of smaller volumes.  Just my 2 cents.

Dave

First step in finishing.  Water-based Minwax stain, color is onyx.  Not as opaque as the picture makes it appear (which is the whole point).  This (the sheer strake) will be visible under the fiberglass sheath.