SwampGirl In progress - FINISHED AND WET

AustinPynes · Post by **AustinPynes** » Fri May 23, 2008 8:57 am

After a few emails with Matt and conversations with Jheger I finally decided to build the Swamp Girl a few months back.

Since then I have been busy lurking here, reading eagerly all the tips and lessons learned and while it ain't pretty, being my first it is getting close to finished. So now that I am reasonably sure I will have a boat at the end of this to fly fish I am brave enough to post progress here.

My newbie take on this so far is that out of all my carpentry and building I have done between houses and furniture, measuring never was more important than when building a boat. I am thankful that God created epoxy and wood flour to hide my errors. In fact it seems that for those of us who are building more of a fishing boat than a show boat, we get several chances during the build process to correct our mistakes, our as I like to think of it, customize our boats.

I have just finished my 3rd coat (light) after laying a sheet of fiberglass on the outside of the hull and have finally learned how a little thought and carefulness to fair along the way can minimize sanding and epoxy waste.

Bow ends were a booger to get together but used Micks and others examples to clean those up nicely. By far the scariest part to date has been doing the fiberglassing of the outside hull in 95 F degree temps and doing it all at once.

Will post pics soon as I reorganize to show progress. Funny. The last time I spent this much time working on a boat was on the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) and it was a tad bit bigger than this one.[/img]

Post by **jem** » Fri May 23, 2008 9:09 am

Now there's some words of wisdom.

It's funny... in typical wood working and building projects, straight and true lines are the sign of quality.

Laying out the panels, cutting sweeping curves, twisting, and bending is counter-intuitive.

But in the end, it sure makes for a great source of pride.

Kayak Jack · Post by **Kayak Jack** » Fri May 23, 2008 2:28 pm

Pyney,

You can do the outside in two, or even three steps. Simply start at the rear, and overlap about 2" as you move forward.

And, for the inside, I STRONGLY recommend two - three steps

AustinPynes · Post by **AustinPynes** » Fri May 23, 2008 3:52 pm

Lessons Learned: Make life easy and do outside in two or three. Of course the driver behind my doing it in one was less seams to feather...but in hindisight the number of cuts I made to get it to fit and ripples in the fiberglass as I scrambled to fit as it was drying did not afford me any advantages.

Well definitely piece the inside together.

Question for all. I notice that the last few coats of expoxy I get small bumps in the epoxy. Doesn't look like air, more like well pin head size bumps. I have used water and acetone to clean after sanding but maybe I am not cleaning enough.

Thoughts?

Next up is a couple more coats and the the graphite goes on the bottom. and I can flip this baby over.

Post by **jem** » Fri May 23, 2008 4:04 pm

Sounds like you're getting a little out-gassing.

When you sand them, does it leave a small air pocket?

AustinPynes · Post by **AustinPynes** » Fri May 23, 2008 4:27 pm

That was my first thought from reading posts but it is more like a lump in the epoxy. Easily sanded flat - void. I have been using cheap foam brushes lately. Wonder if I should go back to a bristle brush.

Jimmy W · Post by **Jimmy W** » Fri May 23, 2008 10:00 pm

I also got some of those little bumps. I'm not sure what causes them, but a carbide scraper takes them right off. I used a foam roller.

Jimmy

AustinPynes · Post by **AustinPynes** » Fri May 23, 2008 10:44 pm

Early in my career I made a living writing, We did lots of rewrites and edits and it was a cycle that if you wanted could go on forever. Fairing boats seems to be identical; at some point you just have to say, enough and move on to paint or varnish.

I think tomorrow I will be at that point and start my 3 days of applying 3 coats of thin epoxy and graphite to the bottom. I like the green and black I have seen on this site and thinking of doing mine similar. Being my first buiild and having resorted to wood flour more than I will ever admit, bright work on the outer hull will not be an option.

Next challenge: how to get the graphite/epoxy on smooth without too much sanding. Might experiment with the plastic sheeting on the bottom.

Oldsparkey · Post by **Oldsparkey** » Sat May 24, 2008 2:14 pm

Get rid of the bumps , if there are any. Lightly sand the rest of the bottom to rough up the epoxy that is there if it has been over 72 hours.

Tape off where you want the graphite and epoxy mix to stop.

I use the rollers for epoxy when applying the mix. I get a 9 inch roller and cut it in half giving me two that are 4 1/2 inches. Using a 4 inch adapter (handle and attachment) for the roller slip it on and then roll out the mix.

The 1st coat should be a little transparent , the 2nd coat the next day will darken it down and the 3rd coat the following day will do the trick.

HINT:::: The roller( for epoxy) can be cut with a box knife or a very sharp knife and after you cut it , check the cut part for any loose fabric , rub it off with your hand or it will become part of the bottom of your boat. After checking the cut area . I like to slide ( Butt it up against) that plastic part it slips over so it has something to help hold the fibers in place.
When you are done , some paper towels around the roller will make it easier to slip off the attachment , rubber gloves are a necessity.

Mixing the graphite and epoxy....
Start out with the epoxy and add the graphite , mix slowly to keep from covering yourself with the graphite.... mix some more , get all the lumps out then add the hardener and mix again..... it's ready for the boat.

Some folks mix the epoxy and hardener then the graphite .. that puts to much of a rush on the process to get it on the boat before it starts to set up.

Disposable paint tray liners are the easy way to go and they can be reused if you are using the same thing in them. I have been know to bend the tray and have the old epoxy pop out after it has set up.

Chuck.

hairymick · Post by **hairymick** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:16 pm

G'day Austin and Welcome aboard mate.

The inside is way harder to do than the outide and is well worth doing in small manageable pieces at a time.

When I built my Swampgirl (first build) Jack gave me some invaluable advice on applying the resin. He put it into words far better than i ever could. BEFORE you start the inside, I would recommend you have a look at my swampgirl build, check out the mistakes I made, particularly on the inside and carefully read Jacks advice to me. It is pure gold and has stood me in good stead ever since.

Re painting he hull. I would do that last.

Do you still need to fillet the inside of your boat?. There are some very good build threads here on how to do a very neat job of that too.

I am about to start a Swampgirl 14 build in the next couple of weeks. If you are interested, I will post a detailed thread on how I do my thing during the build. probably will anyway