JEM Watercraft

craiggamesh wrote:
PS - My wife told me she thought it looked quite nice. Does this mean that this boat won't be mine when its done??

DO'NT let her paddle the bloody thing .........thats the mistake I made

It's too late. She's planted the seed. You're done. Might as well admit it hers.

Good, she can finish sanding it I got poked and jabbed in the arms at the Dr yesterday so sanding hurts

Question??????????????????

I have put three coats of graphite/epoxy on the bottom of the boat. Is the goal just to cover it and not be able to see the wood through the coats? Or, is there a desired "thickness" for protection?

The first coat was 2 1/2 batches of 60 ml epoxy + 20 ml graphite and this covered it fairly well. There was a visible "step" where the masking tape was. I scraped and lightly sanded this coat because the roller I used left some lumps. The sanded portions were very slick compared to the unsanded. I bought a small roller paint tray kit at Harbor Freight today, and used these to avoid the problem I had with the first roller.


They worked very well and they were very cheap ($1.99 for tray roller and two roller covers). This four-pack was also $1.99.

On the second and third coats, I was able to cover the entire masked-off portion on the bottom with just one of these 60ml/20ml batches each. I assume that this is enough. Also, the glass had three coats of epoxy on prior to the first epoxy graphite layer.

I guess more can always be applied at a later date if necessary.

Craig remember something that Kayak Jack put in one of his posts

Resist the temptation to varnish the graphite as this will surely need to be patched at some time

Cheers Paul

All I ever have used is three light coats , the third coat makes the bottom black and no wood shows. If you don't like the shiny black then a light sanding will take the shine away and even make the bottom slipperier.

One word of warning , you will get black , dirty , messy and covered with it when sanding it , it is quite a nasty job and not really needed for the type of boats we paddle. Racing boats sand theirs since it removes that outer thin crust of epoxy.

You have three coats of epoxy plus the glass on the boat then three light coats of the graphite and epoxy mix would be plenty.

The lumps , I found that one time on mine and it was from not mixing the epoxy and graphite really well , the lumps were little balls of graphite that did not get mixed in with the epoxy. My cure for that was to mix the epoxy and graphite really well and then mix it again . after it is all incorporated then add the hardener , mix again and apply it to the bottom of the boat.

Chuck.

Thanks Chuck and Paul.

Resist the temptation to varnish the graphite as this will surely need to be patched at some time

Thanks, I read that somewhere as well. I will not varnish it.

The lumps , I found that one time on mine and it was from not mixing the epoxy and graphite really well , the lumps were little balls of graphite that did not get mixed in with the epoxy. My cure for that was to mix the epoxy and graphite really well and then mix it again . after it is all incorporated then add the hardener , mix again and apply it to the bottom of the boat.

I noticed that as well. What I did after realizing this was mix as well as possible, pour some on the hull and then spread it around using a squeegee at a low angle while pushing down. This seemed to break up the lumps and mix the graphite from the lumps with the epoxy at the same time. The third coat i sifted the graphite through a screen to see if that would help. It didn't, but it made a nice mess .

I am on vacation this next week so the goal is to get it done and at least take it to a sheltered spot in one of the many small bays around here and set a few crab pots. Quick trips out from shore while momma and the kids play in the tide pools and dig for clams. Hoping for a yummy feast of Dungeness crab.

Yep, bottom needs no varnish for (A) UV protection or (B) hardness. Epoxy is harder than varnish, and lives in the shade.

Finally, all epoxy work is done. I spent 3 hours sanding last Saturday, and Sunday night I put the last coat of epoxy on. It is so shiny I hate to touch it. Unfortunately, she weighs about 5 lbs more than I was shooting for. However, she is beefed up with extra glass on the bottom and I used the temporary form in the front as a water tight bulkhead. Now she has three separate water tight compartments making her a little more sea worthy if a sneaky wave gets me while a hatch is open. I weighed her today on the bathroom scale several times. She is somewhere between 60.5 and 61 lbs without all the extras installed yet. I weighed all those components and they were about 8 pounds. So, 69 lbs outfitted. I figure that is on par with a plastic one of similar size. Thats a far cry from my 35 lb pirogue.


Speaking of the pirogue, she appears to be almost ready to make it hers. Maybe next summer.

Oops, i forgot to mention that no varnish has been applied as of yet. I will wait another 3 weeks for the epoxy to fully cure as others have suggested on this forum. She might get her initial voyage tomorrow, though.