Tom the rower Posted July 27, 2013 Report Share Posted July 27, 2013 Sunday morning I plan to unfold my Core Sound 20. I have the two sides and bottoms glueing up now, so it should be good for the morning. I still have to wire my bottoms together, apparently loosely, then unfold. Any suggestions on the type of wire to purchase from Home Depot or Lowes? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterP Posted July 27, 2013 Report Share Posted July 27, 2013 Tom, I have always used the same wire: mild steel wire I bought from Lowes eons ago. In fact I built the first twenty with it. And two CS 17 before then. All out of that same roll.They still sell that stuff. Saw it in there the other day. It is very soft and you can twist it off real easy but you are using it on plywood which is even softer. What I mean is there is no point in going high strength/ hi tech. If the wire is not strong enough to snug things up it is better to run wood blocks and screws - less chance of tearing out chunks of plywood. PeterP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnjost Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 on stitch and glue boats, I have always used 16 ga copper. In tough spots, I double up the strands. Last boat I built used plastic cable ties. they sand quite well, so are easy to hide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom151 Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 ... I have the two sides and bottoms glueing up now, so it should be good for the morning. I still have to wire my bottoms together, apparently loosely, then unfold.I seem to recall that some folks have had issues with the butterfly joint failing when going 3D -- and it was diagnosed that it might have been due to the epoxy joint not being fully cured and thus not reaching full strength. Apparently getting up to full strength may take several days - depending on curing conditions (temps).Just relaying from memory, so YMMV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAR Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 Epoxy will reach about 90% of it's strength in 24 hours, under normal temperatures (if it's cold this can take longer). It can take up to a couple of weeks for the last 10% of the cure to finish off. With some epoxies, you can expedite this with a post cure process. There's no best stitching wire - what ever works for you is best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom the rower Posted July 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 Well, I guess I can let that zipper joint cure a little while longer. In my hurry to maximize my time while my super carpenter buddy was here helping me, I forgot to rip down my stringers and epoxy them to the sides. So, after he gets here today, we will rip the stringers and the inwales, and then try to lift up side bottoms and glue in the stringers. Lesson learned....plan 3 times, execute once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polecat Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 I agree that there is no best stitching wire. I use stainless aircraft lock wire because there is always some in my toolbox when I'm ready to go. I have used copper and mild steel to equal effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMoon Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 I've used nylon cable ties to good effect. Super easy to sand smooth and no reason to remove the remnant left inside the fillets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnjost Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 pretty remarkable that this strand got posted. I ran out of copper wire, so went to the local hardware store to get more. The quality of the wire was terrible as each strand broke while being tightened. Even doubled up it was a struggle. I gave up and just used the spool of baling wire. I am figuring the alloy of copper was considerably cheaper than the stuff bought at the other hardware store. Will remove the bailing wires after tacking together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Lathrop Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 What kind of wire is best depends on the particular job. Small boats can get by with small plastic cable ties or even tape sometimes. Since I wired my own house, I saved all the 14 and 12 gage scraps and they work well when stripped. Soft iron bailing wire for larger jobs and blocks and screws for really difficult work on thick plywood. Occasionally, support blocks and clamps are necessary. The batten running along a couple inches below the top is for strain relief to avoid rupturing the plywood which is a real danger when torturing plywood this much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 This is the wire I use. Sold in hardware stores and other places as rebar tie wire. Soft and flexible enough to bend as needed, yet strong enough to draw the plywood together. Several of these in close proximity, working a twist or two at a time, will close up a remarkably large gap. What is even more remarkable is that a few dabs of thickened epoxy will then spot weld and hold those panels together, even with the substantial strain the tortured bend puts on them. Once you see that, most doubt about the ability of epoxy to hold a plywood boat together goes away. On fitting panels, check the plans to see how the various panels are designed to go together. Some put the side panels above the bottom panels and some put them outside the bottom panels. Same with the transom and fore and aft position of the bulkheads relative to the lines marked for them on the side panels. If in doubt, check with the guy who designed it. You would think there is a standard way of doing it, but apparently, that is not the case. Doing it the wrong way could cause problems fitting things together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hokeyhydro Posted August 2, 2013 Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 Rebar tie wire - I recall that coming in a magazine-like strip with wires sized 4", 6" or whatever, with loops on the ends. Wrap around rebar, hook twister gizmo in, twist = done. But while building pools we also used soft steel wire we called "gunite wire". We would run that at the upper and lower edge of the gunite shoot and tension it really tight. After the gunite gunner got done blowing aitr placed concrete on the wall, a screeder guy would run the screed along the really tight gunite wire to trim off the excess. I do not know what kind of wire it was exactly, but it would have done stitch & glue just dandy. We could tighten that wire to a high C note over 50 meters and I never saw one break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Niemann Posted August 3, 2013 Report Share Posted August 3, 2013 I got my wire from Graham and it looks like the photo Howard posted. dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.