JEM Watercraft

It's all good with me Matt .

Thanks for the opinion on the glass. I think I have a bit of f/g tape around somewhere and will compare it to that when I can find it.

Sorry Matt. Wasn't sure about posting links. Thats why I didn't put the link in the post.

craiggamesh wrote:Sorry Matt. Wasn't sure about posting links. Thats why I didn't put the link in the post.

There were some additional circumstances to that.

No big deal.

Still getting a little done each day although it's hard to see the progress sometimes.

Went to sand off a few dags of resin tonight and ended up wet sanding the entire outside hull. Now it feels like my arms are going to fall off! It needed to be done though as I can now see that some more light layers of epoxy with carefull sanding should give a finish that will pass from a distance.

Have come to the conclusion that my hull problems were largely related to applying too much resin during glass wet out. Having started with the West roller and being unhappy with it I also tried a brush before ending up with a plastic squeegee.

A couple of nights ago I did a test piece with a short napped roller and it came up really well so am going to try this when doing the deck. The other thing that semed to help was putting the glass on bare wood. It was as if the resin soaking into the ply was helping to suck the glass down onto the surface.

Weighed her with the bulkhead panels and sheer clamps the other day and it is just on 10kg. Hoping to get under the 15kg mark when finished. Who knows, if I sand off enough of that excess epoxy it may come in at the magic 30lb .

Been doing a little every day - but sometimes it's very little.

Sheer clamps are on and end pours done (no holes yet). Need to do most of the interior before fitting the deck.

Decided on a circular hatch in the front bulkhead and have cut out the pieces to make it a 1/8th turn fit.


The tricky bit will be making it fit so it seals.

Also started making adjustable footpegs. Not sure if they will be strong enough but it's worth a try.


Found that the long backing slat was too flexible so glued another layer on today.


Be careful in warm weather folks - had a mix melt the mixing cup today. It was only a bit over an ounce but I divided it in 2 to help keep it cool and prolong the working time. The half in use started to feel quite hot, so I looked at the other and it was smoking. Dropped it on the concrete floor and broke it up a bit. The table it was sitting on had resin, hardener and acetone on it too and if left much longer it could have been a drama.


Just managed to get the footpeg slats laminated before the mix was too stiff to use.

nice work. I'm curious how those footbraces work out.

Glued another layer on the footbrace tracks tonight and tested the braces for strength. The pic with the slat straight is without load, bent is with load. The track will keep them straight when mounted. There was a lot of force on them so they will be plenty strong enough.





I will try to remember to weigh everything before installing.

Also glued some of the front bulkhead hatch bits together. Alignment is important for this as if it is not done properly the hatch might go into the hole but not be able to turn to the lock position.



No epoxy trouble tonight - put it in the fridge for 2 hours .
Temp was down to about 32 C by then too.

Still just edging along a little bit each day.

Front hatch seems to have turned out OK.
Put spacers between the hatch face and locking plate while the glue set to make sure there was clearance.


Was originally going to just put an X shaped piece of ply flat on the face for a handle but was worried about it not being enough to grip. Made another style out of meranti and it works well (I also think it looks much better).


Tacked the bulkheads in position tonight. Will leave this to set before fully filleting and glassing.



Been thinking of making my own paddle as everyone on every site I look at says cheap ones are to be avoided. Have some idea of what blade shape/size I want but not sure what diameter the shaft should be. What diameter do most people have?

Bob;
Looks great.
How about a close up inside view of how you quarter turn hatch works.
Like shown in this picture.


DM

Thanks DM,

Am at work at the moment but will do a series of shots tonight. In the meantime here's one I prepared earlier



It's actually only 1/8th of a turn to lock it.
I stand by the design as being a good one but my execution is not the best. Had it jam the first time I put it together as I hadn't cleaned up the excess epoxy properly. It could probably also do with 4 stops instead of only 2. Note that the stops are designed to act in both directions so when you open the hatch you don't need to fiddle around trying to get it in the right position to pull out.