JEM Watercraft

Press on. You're doing just fine.

OK then,
I'm not going to argue with the pro

But, am I correct the these panels should be flush to each other? In the plan, relative to the edge of the plywood, that inner line tappers down 3/16" but it is linear so it is a straight line. When the panels are all there it appears that the center points would touch and the bow and stern tips should flair out (This is lying flat off course).

I'm sure I'm being a perfectionist and I WILL continue the build. This stuff just keeps me up at night.

There's a small arc. You panel tips should be a tiny bit wider but it's not going to be enough to effect anything.

Good to know! I'll march on.

And Mick, thanks for the input, your like the cheerleader on here lol.

Teddy Madison wrote:Good to know! I'll march on.

And Mick, thanks for the input, your like the cheerleader on here lol.

But doesn't have the legs for the skirt.

Onward!

So I now have my panels patched together and I am really jazzed at the fact that I was able to work with the glass and epoxy with little to no fuss! I will get pcs up soon!

Lessons learned so far:

1. Cheap Lowes Lauan is not nice when sanding the fillets, you end up going through the veneer. Not a big deal as this is not intended to be the looker of the fleet. More of a learner.

2. Epoxy sticks to plexiglass enough to tear off the plywood veneer taped it up with packing tape and now it works perfectly.


One question on the seam patches, I am assuming that you only do one epoxy coat on the patch and not 3 as it will be covered by the final glassing. Am I correct in this?

Wayne

IF you're going to cover a "patch" with fiberglass, then no need to give it coats of epoxy prior to glassing.

So you are correct.

When I build, I don't even do a "sealing coat" prior to applying the fiberglass. I let the epoxy wet out the glass and then bond to the wood surface. Takes just a little bit more care to make sure everything is wetted out sufficiently, but we're talking maybe 5-10 extra minutes of babysitting the hull as it starts to cure just to be sure.

OK good,
What I did was after the fillet was cured I put down a coat of epoxy and then laid the glass into that and then wet it out, seemed to work very well.

Wayne

Teddy Madison wrote:OK good,
What I did was after the fillet was cured I put down a coat of epoxy and then laid the glass into that and then wet it out, seemed to work very well.

Wayne

that works too!

Bleary eyed Monday morning update from work:

The hull is all stitched and half of the seams are filled. Sorry about the shortage of pics but I got going Saturday morning and never really stopped all weekend.

I'll finish filling the seams tonight and tomorrow should be able to pull the stitching and get the rest of it. Things are moving right along...

Plug for U.S. Composite: Their 2:1 stuff is nice to work with. I was able to work through the whole 3oz batch of fillet and it only started to get gummy in the last little bits. This was in 95F and 80% humidity. Being my first time ever with epoxy I would say I am not the fastest at it so as a beginner I like it.

Wayne