Steve Deligan
Paddler
Well, it's almost prepped for fiberglassing... still have to run some tape along the #4 panels.
Today I reinforced the butt seam and added some thickened epoxy to the ends, all exactly according to the Pygmy manual.
The only thing I didn't do according to the manual is that I don't add a saturation coat to the inside. Wetting it out will fully saturate the cloth and it's an added step. To saturate or not to saturate is the eternal fiberglassing question asked by wooden boat people. There are two strong camps, each with their own reasons. I've just never found a convincing reason to do it as simply wetting it all out in one step has always worked well.
Regarding Astoria Dave's question, I just use the System Three medium hardener that came with the boat. It's always seemed to work well. I can usually get my garage to around 65 F or so, and it will take a full 24 hours to cure well, but I've never had it take much longer than that even if I let my garage get pretty cold.
On my Radio Control (RC) wooden sailboats that I build, I use WEST System 105/205 and it works well too. The only reason I really use it is because it's easy to get in small quantities, and it's easy to use syringes to measure out very small amounts. But both System Three and WEST System are widely used in the marine industry to my knowledge, both are quality epoxies, and both have great track records.
Today I reinforced the butt seam and added some thickened epoxy to the ends, all exactly according to the Pygmy manual.
The only thing I didn't do according to the manual is that I don't add a saturation coat to the inside. Wetting it out will fully saturate the cloth and it's an added step. To saturate or not to saturate is the eternal fiberglassing question asked by wooden boat people. There are two strong camps, each with their own reasons. I've just never found a convincing reason to do it as simply wetting it all out in one step has always worked well.
Regarding Astoria Dave's question, I just use the System Three medium hardener that came with the boat. It's always seemed to work well. I can usually get my garage to around 65 F or so, and it will take a full 24 hours to cure well, but I've never had it take much longer than that even if I let my garage get pretty cold.
On my Radio Control (RC) wooden sailboats that I build, I use WEST System 105/205 and it works well too. The only reason I really use it is because it's easy to get in small quantities, and it's easy to use syringes to measure out very small amounts. But both System Three and WEST System are widely used in the marine industry to my knowledge, both are quality epoxies, and both have great track records.