G'day Coogs,
Sorry for the late reply mate. I have been a little pre-occupied these past few weeks.
Preperation is EVERYTHING.
Starting with the boat itself, go over it several time, making sure all corners are rounded and smooth. There are no holes in your wood flour fillets etc and after that. lay your cloth flat on the outside of the hull to rest for a couple of days. Smooth it out and work out any wrinkles /ridges etc. This will help a lot when the magical time comes to wet it out.
I saturate my ply before I try to wet out the cloth. This minimises the wood absorbing the resin out of the cloth and makes the wet out easier.
After your cloth has rested on your hull a couple of days, ROLL up starting at one end and carefully work your way to to the other, being as careful as you can to avois and wrinkles forming again. and place it to one side.
Apply the saturation coat/s One is probably enough and screed the excess off with a squeegee.
Let your saturation coat go just touch dry so that it only very slightly tacky and then carefully work your cloth back into place along your hull. continue to work it to conform to your hull shape and when you are satisfied that all is nice and flat and in the right place, mix your wet out resin and apply with a roller.
There is an art to this stage. If you roll too vigorously, air will form in your resin and cause it to go a milky colour and this is a real PITA to get out. Roll SLOOOW and GENTLY and mix small batches at a time.
I prefer to mix several batches of about 100ml each (Not sure what that is in ounces but is equivalent to about 4 egg cups full )
I only use and recommend West Systems 105 resin and 207 special purpose hardener. West recommend a maximum of 12 hours between successive coats of resin to achieve the wet on wet application. This works well for me in that I can usually get the saturation coat and completely fill the cloth in a couple of days.
With each coat of resin, I apply with a foam roller and then lightly wipe any excess resin and runs off with a soft rubber bladed squeegee. This minimises sanding a great deal.
Kayak Jack has a very good post on the Jem site that I have found priceless. He made this post in relation to problems i was having on my first build and has helped me out no end. Jack, thanks mate. beer is still in the fridge.
Mick,
Get some small plastic cups; urine sample cups (new, of course) from a doctor's office are are good. If can't get them, use small, paper Dixie cups like are at a drinking fountain.
Using a measuring cup, carefully measure and pour one ounce of water into a cup, mark it. Also - MEASURE it with a ruler so you can replicate it easily. Now do the same with an ounce and a half of water.
Now, you can buy small, paper cups, easily mark them for 1 oz and 1 1/2 oz and use them for making smaller batches of epoxy. Make up a gaggle of pre-measured cups; they're a one-time use item.
Get larger, waxed, paper cups, 8 oz - 12 oz. Beer cups (used, of course) work well. Using a sharp knife or a razor knife, cut a sharp vee down into the lip at one point. Vee should be about 2" deep, and only about 1/16"-1/8" wide at the top. When you're laying epoxy and wiping it back off with the plastic squeegee blade, wipe the squeegee through this vee and it will deposit the excess epoxy into the cup.
I'll be there next week to help you use the new beer cups.
