Hi folks, I'm building my first kit kayak - an Arctic Tern 17 in my cold garage in Portland Or.
So far my first mistake was to bevel the wrong edge on the hull side panels. In addition to the shear edge I did the edge touching the bottom hull panels as well
It didn't occur that it would matter much until I put in the temporary frames and the bottom panels forming the keel line were pushed apart slightly
This allowed a large glob of epoxy to seep through the 1/8" gap and onto the 2x4 that the keel was mounted on. The 2x4 was covered in wax paper, but the glob cured onto the bottom of the hull. I've tried to slice, grind and sand it down as smooth as possible, but it's slightly rough to the touch.
Also some of the thickened epoxy used on the outside chines, bow, and stern edges aren't absolutely super smooth and I've dented some of the panels accidentally. I'm about to apply my saturation coat and I'm assuming that coat, along with the fiber glass cloth and cloth tape will be enough to smooth things out. Is that accurate?
I also understand that you only have 72 hours between the saturation coat and the fiberglass coating - It's 40-50 degrees F and it takes 2-3 days before the last batches of epoxy is cured. I'm thinking I have 4-6 days to apply that fiberglass coat after my saturation coat today. Does that sound reasonable? Thanks for any advice and tips!
So far my first mistake was to bevel the wrong edge on the hull side panels. In addition to the shear edge I did the edge touching the bottom hull panels as well
It didn't occur that it would matter much until I put in the temporary frames and the bottom panels forming the keel line were pushed apart slightly
This allowed a large glob of epoxy to seep through the 1/8" gap and onto the 2x4 that the keel was mounted on. The 2x4 was covered in wax paper, but the glob cured onto the bottom of the hull. I've tried to slice, grind and sand it down as smooth as possible, but it's slightly rough to the touch.
Also some of the thickened epoxy used on the outside chines, bow, and stern edges aren't absolutely super smooth and I've dented some of the panels accidentally. I'm about to apply my saturation coat and I'm assuming that coat, along with the fiber glass cloth and cloth tape will be enough to smooth things out. Is that accurate?
I also understand that you only have 72 hours between the saturation coat and the fiberglass coating - It's 40-50 degrees F and it takes 2-3 days before the last batches of epoxy is cured. I'm thinking I have 4-6 days to apply that fiberglass coat after my saturation coat today. Does that sound reasonable? Thanks for any advice and tips!