JEM Spacer Stitching Method - Perfect panel spacing
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 10:40 pm
With stitch and glue plans, you never want a hard spot or a "wood-on-wood" contact spot in your seams.
The reason is that filleting material (epoxy and woodflour) works better with fiberglass to evenly distribute any sudden loads placed on the seam.
Maintaining a consistent seam gap is also easier to build and fair. We've always recommended a spacer to maintain a consistent gap. The problem is that just putting a spacer or shim in the seam isn't always easy because the spacers twist or fall out.
Well here's a way to solve that:
1) Get some tongue depressors (craft sticks). I like using the wide ones because they are only about 3mm thick. Drill 2 holes about 1/2" apart, then one in the middle to make a slot.
2) Stitch the hull with the stitches going right through the slots.
3) Adjust the spacers so you have a consistent gap. What's also nice about this is you can pull the stitches tight.
The reason is that filleting material (epoxy and woodflour) works better with fiberglass to evenly distribute any sudden loads placed on the seam.
Maintaining a consistent seam gap is also easier to build and fair. We've always recommended a spacer to maintain a consistent gap. The problem is that just putting a spacer or shim in the seam isn't always easy because the spacers twist or fall out.
Well here's a way to solve that:
1) Get some tongue depressors (craft sticks). I like using the wide ones because they are only about 3mm thick. Drill 2 holes about 1/2" apart, then one in the middle to make a slot.
2) Stitch the hull with the stitches going right through the slots.
3) Adjust the spacers so you have a consistent gap. What's also nice about this is you can pull the stitches tight.