boatbuilder.org

The Sockeye 45 ---Joel---

Jake you are a sick man and need help staying away from craigslist. The wife has enough for you to do I'm sure without taking on another boat/project. The Sockeye is scheduled to launch the 13th of Aug and may actually make it. Stop by and take a look. ---Joel---

I think it would be more difficult to finish the bottom when it is upside down. There was a scheduling issue or we would have taped off to the waterline an rolled on one coat of epoxy primer. This is more for a "dog and pony show" than anything else. On small boats it is easy to do the finishing on the bottom while it is upside down, but try is ten feet in the air on a sloped and slick surface. What do you think Jake? ---Joel---

Frank I missed your post earlier this month. You are more than welcome to stop by If you are ever in the area. ---Joel---

Occume has a definite advantage if there is a lot of shape because it will bend more easily and will make more of a bend before it will snap. For brightwork Occume also has a much nicer appearance than Hydrotec, and it is also lighter. It certainly does have it uses, but for most applications the Hydrotec is the better value. If a boat is built with the proper "WEST" construction there is not the durability issue with other forms of construction. ---Joel---

All the MAS hardeners (slow. medium and fast) are now no-blush. My price on MAS is $77 a gal (based on a 3 gallon kit) and $65 a gal (based on a 12 gallon kit). I will even throw you the 10% discount I offer Devlin customers http://www.devlinboat.com/mascart/index.htm ----Joel---

Bow thruster

Added the keel today

Greg all the epoxy I sell is shipped out of New Jersey and the glass and fillers are shipped from Wash state and are not included in the price which is something to take into consideration when buying. A small order shipped across country may cost 20% of the order price whereas a large order shipped a state away may be a little over 5%. Certainly something to consider when getting prices. The low viscosity feature of MAS resin is a big reason I like is so much. We use a lot of biax and Dynel and the thinner resin makes wet out much easier. There are two types of resin and three hardeners which will do everything, and all you really need is the low viscosity resin and and two hardeners. Slow and med or slow and fast. The hardeners can be mixed to suit depending on the application and the ratio is always two to one. So with the low Viscosity Resin, slow hardener and fast hardener I can do whatever I need to reguardless of temp and conditions. The medium and fast are now no-blush (95% of the time) as well as the slow hardener. ---Joel---

Although I do prefer to use MAS, and even sell the stuff, I think that for the home boat builder all the epoxy brands listed in this thread work fine for home built boats. If you get into exotic carbon fiber epoxy infused blah blah blah applications I am sure there would be noticeable strengths and weaknesses of the various brands but for home built boats, that are generally overbuilt anyway, I don't think the differences are noticeable in the finished product. I base my preference on the ease of use of the system. ---Joel---

MAS is a brand of epoxy. It was developed by two guys that wanted to make a safer epoxy to use. The choice of diluents used in MAS epoxy to make it a low viscosity resin are chosen with safety in mind. The word "solvent" is a catch phrase for bad stuff, keep in mind that water is a solvent also. True non blushing hardeners does eliminate the need to clean the surfaces which will give you a window of time that re coating with more epoxy can be done with out any prep. If the MAS epoxy has fully cured it will however need to be sanded before another application of epoxy primer or paint. MAS slow hardener is a non blushing hardener, the medium hardener is extremely resistant to blush. It may occur in very cold and high humidity conditions. The new fast hardener, just recently modified, is also extremely resistant to blush. The chemist at MAS is trying to make an easy product to use and keep the possibility of becoming sensitized to a minimum. I have used WEST, System Three, RAKA and MAS and I prefer to work with the MAS over the others. ---Joel---

Wrapping up the cold molding.

The hull has been "straightened" and all tabbed in place and all wires and screws removed. Yesterday we did the first of 4 layers of 1/4 plywood cold molding on the 4 bottom panels. The 4 side panels will get three layers. Will try and remember to get some pics. ---Joel---

You can stop by the Devlin shop, it's about 15 minutes out of downtown Olympia. See the recent threads "another new build" and "new build part II" to see what we are doing. ---Joel---

Suck-up ---Joel---