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---

NM

These days Sam uses Max Surf and Auto CAD where there "should" be no error on line placement but those programs don't take into account how different plywoods bend (or don't). I think Most CAD guys live and die by the numbers the little box spits out, but you don't always get a first down so you sometimes have to drop back and punt. It can get discouraging at times, but I guess in the long run what makes it fun is finding a way to make it work. ---Joel---

i'm sure the the actual lofting was good, I think it was on the generation of the numbers. We did'nt use the same plans as the first Sockeye so it was basicaly a new design as far as the panel projections go, and there seems to be issues on about 50% of the new designs. That is why, for the most part, we do not offer construction plans on boats we have not built ourselves. I can always find a way to pull off a "MacGyver" and make it work, but I'd hate to saddle it on the shoulders of a backyard builder, so I work out the bugs on a new design. ---Joel---

Ran into the first snag, the lower side panel (not shown on the pictures) would not fit properly around the stern. Lofting off, plywood to stiff, a combination, who knows... We hacked off the last 9 feet of the panel and bent a sheet of 3/8 Okoume around the stern, traced and cut it out. The great thing about Okoume is that it bends nice. Will just butt joint the two pieces with a backing plate for now. ---Joel---

That is the area where my last England/canal trip was. We only went as far South as the top of the Hatton Locks (not enough manpower to do the 20+ double locks to Warwick, took a taxi instead) and north as far as Dudley and the Black Country Museum. Spent a lot of time in Birmingham and the Gas Street Basin. ---Joel---

Oops... I could not find the link, but here are a couple of others that also include the nearby Chirk Aqueduct and Viaduct http://www.chirk.com/aqueduct.html http://www.starling101.btinternet.co.uk/canals/chirk.htm ---Joel---

Here is a link to a page that has some pictures of the canals in England including the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct 120 feet above the River Dee. I plan on going to this area on my nexk UK canal vacation. ---Joel--- www.devlinboat.com www.boatbuilder.org

Did not get your email, try again. ---Joel---

Barry Do you use pre-made panels when you do this or fabricate your own stuff? Have you ever used the panels of closed cell foam with the thin layers of plywood on each side? I have never had to cut down the weight on anything yet but I am sure the day will come when I have a project that will need it and I have never played with the lightweight products. ---Joel---

If all you do is fillet each each side and don't use glass, isn't the plywood still "sandwiched" between the fillets and at this point no longer considered stitch and glue? Sandwich construction is using a lightweight core that would normally not be considered a structural material like balsa or more often a honeycomb type of material and adding a rigid surface on each face to end up with something that is strong yet lighweight. The BS 1088 plywood is not an inferior core material that is, or needs to be strengthened by adding glass. What I am doing it making a plywood butt joint as strong or stronger than the wood around it. ---Joel---