flippin yer sides

[Bellybuster]

heya kids.....
glassed one side of the btt joint yesterday and went to flp the board to do the other and it cacked at the joint. How on Earth do you flip the boards over without crackng the joint???

 

[JEM]

it can be tricky. Easiest way is to get have a helper and work it over slowly.

 

[seedtick]

hate to sound like a broke record but scarf your joints, it's really not that hard

 

[Bellybuster]

the glass didn't acually crack just the epoxy holdin it, I'm guessin this joint will be fine with a cople more coats of epoxy??
Thanks for the quick reply

 

[Bellybuster]

'll try the scarf joint on the next one, really just wanted to get my feet wet first.
I'm an avid woodworker and have scarfed many a piece of wood in the past. I even did a scarfed picure frame once where the grain was lined up and looked like a continous octagonal piece of wood. Was a 3 mnth project

 

[Ozark]

There is an interesting approach to scarf joints in the UJ plans doing all scarfs at once using a belt sander.

http://www.unclejohns.com/boat/plans/kitplans07.pdf


Just zoom in on the top of the page to read

 

[Kayak Jack]

Belly, you had my experience all over again. I use a small pice of plywood about 2" wide across a seam. Never lost one yet.

 

[Bellybuster]

you mean you do your joints with a butt block??? I considered it but wanted a nice clean joint

 

[Kayak Jack]

Yes, I use a butt block or reinforcing panel. Same material as the parent material of the boat. Bevel all edges and have it about 1/8" shorter than the width of the panel. That way, the ends don't conflict with each other on the inside curve of a concave surface.

Glass goes right over them with no problem. I suppose that someone could even artfully smear in thickened epoxy at the edges to make an even smoother ramp.

All joints will have one of three characteristics:
1. Heavier than parent material alone.
2. Weaker than parent material alone.
3. Both # 1 & 2.

For a few ounces of weight, I have a joint stronger than parent material.

Many builders are successful at the glass reinforcement technique, and I have never heard of one failing. Many builders are successful with scarfed joints, and I have never heard of one failing. The operative word here is "successful". It is VERY easy to succeed with the technique I use. I need that ease.

 

[islandpiper]

Some of us would C-clamp a section of ply to the top side and THEN flip it.

If boatbuilders had friends in real life, not just here on the forum, they'd call them over to the house at times like this.

C-clamps won't drink your beer.

piper

 

[Kayak Jack]

That's a good idea, Piper San. Yer a Cracker Jack guy.

 

[Tiki37]

flippen yer sides

You guys are scarin me with this kind a talk! I'm planning to butt joint my sides tomorrow. Guess Ill plan on a helper for sure! :cry:

 

[Bellybuster]

yup....Piper's got it. C Clamps would'a done the trick

 

[john the pom]

"How on Earth do you flip the boards over without crackng the joint???"

8) S L O W L Y C A R E F U L L Y 8)

 

[TheOtherHank]

What I did was to grab the plank a foot or so on either side of the splice and slowly flipped it over while making sure all the flexing occurred between my hands and the ends of the board and none between my hands. So the splice stayed straight (engineering speak: "Strain Relief").

This worked well for the 6 splices I've done (So you can see I'm a true expert on this forum :wink: ) . YMMV.

- Hank

 

[Kayak Jack]

If you've done six of them successfully - you're a heck of a lot more expert than me. I still like clamping another piece of plywood to the joint. I still like, even better, using wood. It has never failed me either on the work bench or on the river. (Only one of those locations is really important.)

 

[oldsparkey]

What I did was to grab the plank a foot or so on either side of the splice and slowly flipped it over while making sure all the flexing occurred between my hands and the ends of the board and none between my hands. So the splice stayed straight (engineering speak: "Strain Relief").

This worked well for the 6 splices I've done (So you can see I'm a true expert on this forum :wink: ) . YMMV.

- Hank

After trying a scarf joint and having it break on me with the 1st boat , I did the butt joints and turned them exactly like you do. No breakage and there have been a few boats made ( 9 so far ) with the butt joints using a strip of fiberglass over the joint.

Chuck.

 

[Tiki37]

flippen yer sides

I glassed the first side of my butt joints on the sides last night. Flipped em this morning, all well. The plastic sheet on top created quite a batch of wrinkles, however. I think I'll have to sand the 'texture' before applying final glass. :lol:

 

[dangermouse01]

Re: flippen yer sides

The plastic sheet on top created quite a batch of wrinkles, however. I think I'll have to sand the 'texture' before applying final glass. :lol:

Tiki;
Three words for you "CARBIDE Paint Scraper". If you don't already have one, run right out and get you one (or two different ones). You can find them in the paint section of the hardware stores, not in the tool section.
I like the Warner brand, carried by ACE hardware, nice offset handle to get in the smaller spaces. I have the 803, with the 2" wide blade (reversible, so you get two blades) and the 808 with the 1" wide triangular blades (3 blades with this one). The 808 is on the left.

Cost about $15 here on the continent. But sure beats the heck out of sanding stuff like those wrinkles you have now, and the epoxy drips and epoxy runs you will have later. Wait till you use it between fill coats when you are doing the cloth, you can scrape a whole boat alot faster than you can sand. With less mess, that should be worth the $15 alone. It will even remove all the bugs that land on your wet epoxy (one the epoxy has hardened).

DM
mike

 

[Tiki37]

flippen yer sides

Thanks for the tool hint! I WILL run right out and pick one up. No such thing as too many tools and if this makes things go easier I'm all for it.