Just Finished up My First Boat
Just finished up my first boat. A Michalak Piccup Pram. This was my
first experience with epoxy or glass.
Axiom 1. You will use more epoxy than you need to use.
Axiom 2. Epoxy is much, much easier to wipe of when wet than sand off when hard. Any rag or paper towel with some white distilled vinegar will wipe up epoxy quite nicely.
Fillets -
I used tongue depressors to make the radius. If you use 1" or
greater masking tape set about 1/2" on each side of the seam you are
going to fillet, you will end up with a great looking fillet radius
and save hours of sanding. Peel the tape off once the epoxy gets
tacky.
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Other Epoxy tips.
The paint removal disk for your drill that looks like a birds nest
(or very, very course steel wool) works great for removing epoxy.
Home Depot has two or three different brands.
Pumps are much easier and more accurate than cups. (But pump into a measured mixing container, to be sure the pumps are accurate.)
You often seem to have mixed up more epoxy than you need. Before you
mix, set up an "epoxy salvage board" that you need to cover with
epoxy. Once you are done with what ever you were working on, scrape
the rest of the epoxy out of the container onto your salvage board. (Thriftiness at its best).
If your cat likes to nap and watch you work, make sure the cat does
Not lay in the tacky epoxy. (Maybe a “hairy experience”).
Keep a spray bottle of white distilled vinegar handy.
The easiest way to clean paintbrushes is to toss them out!
I have found numerous flea markets that will sell 5 packs of assorted
brush sizes for $1 each. I bought 10 packs for $8. That comes to 16
cents per brush. Cleaning the brushes costs me at least $1.00 of
Aggravation per brush.
I do not see how brush quality is going to make any significant
difference with thickened epoxy.
Contributed by Pete Hodges
Steve:
My favorite is the technique of applying tape before the fillet has cured. This seems obvious to me now that I do it that way, but there are some who do not know any better, and will let the fillet cure, and then spend hours sanding them down before taping. (Verily: the truth, to my painful admittance. Many a poor piece of sandpaper has fallen to my ignorance of THIS simple Statement!).
Chuck
Contributed by Chuck Leinweber
0) Bullets of wisdom:
1) Fillet and tape joints in one operation
2) Bevel edges of right angle joints before filleting and taping, so
epoxy can get into the joint. \_/
3) Use "C" clamps, they are less fussy about being covered with epoxy.
4) Clean up runs and drops BEFORE they get hard.
5) A heat gun softens up epoxy for removal after it gets hard.
6) Use MDO or a good quality marine ply or Superply, unless you are
making a Brick..<grin> (or an experimental craft, or a "workboat")(The extra money will be saved by less finishing time) Definitely!
7) Glass every exposed wood surface (not covered by the paper on your MDO.
8) Where water will stand, glass over the top of your MDO.
9) Use a SailRite kit for your sails, unless you are making a small
experimental craft. Then use polytarp.
10) Buy your SS screws from Chuck (Leinweber @Duckworks.com)
11) Buy your epoxy from Raka
12) Buy your glass from frank@w...
13) Buy your FG tape from marsales1@a...
14) Buy good tools if you can afford it. You will never regret a good tool, but you will regret cheap ones. (Too true!)
15) To quote Bolger: "The hull is not the place to scrimp."
16) Measure TWICE, cut ONCE. (Make sure what you are measuring is what you want the measure to be!, BEFORE you cut!)
17) Use TiteBond II for big, above the waterline, laminations.
Cheaper than epoxy, faster, and is still stronger than the wood.
18) Ask questions. (ask, ask , Ask, and ASK)
19) Unless you love working on motors, buy a new one.
20) Unless you love working on trailers, buy a new one.
(MDO is Medium Density Overlay…a paper cover on the wood).
Contributed by Rlspell2000 on the Yahoo Michalak Group. ( With comments from me!)
Hiya Lewis,
Feel free to glean anything you want from my site. The DIY page may have a couple of tricks that could prove useful to other builders.
http://www.nauticalfollies.com/diy.htm
The Voids page should, (in my opinion) be part of a FAQ page somewhere, if such a thing existed.
http://www.nauticalfollies.com/voids.htm
Here's another tip I found somewhere: "A sheet of sandpaper makes a
Cheap and effective substitute for costly maps when visiting the Sahara
Desert." LOL.
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TTYL, "MD!" (Maddog)
Contributed by Alan (Maddog) MacBride http://www.nauticalfollies.com
Joe C. Lawton (JoeL) offers some of the very best advice: “ Just Do It!” (I add, if it doesn’t work the first time, you will have learned enough to make it work the second time! And you get to build another boat, to boot.)