Hirilonde

My concern with the adapted inflattable PFD would be trying to sail after righting with that thing flopping abound up there.

It is a chemical reaction. Heat is a catalyst for that reaction, and the actual curing generates heat. When I built my Lapwing in a tent in the winter I heated the resin all the time. I have done jobs in the summer where I left the resin jug in a bath of ice water so that when I mixed it I had a little extra time. Epoxy, once mixed, will kick off rather quickly if left in the mixing pot, it will cure more slowly once spread out. Another way to regulate cure time is by choosing fast or slow hardener.

An anchor light does not even have to be on top of the mast at all. Some say it is better to have one closer to the water as it will be seen by boats close by better than if it were up high. I used to hang a miners lamp from my boom over the cockpit on my Renegade.

Heating epoxy may thin it a bit, but it also speeds up the cure. This might be a good thing, or not.

Do you mean a 360° white anchor light? Or a combo red/green/white running lights?

@Paul356 I found that a heat gun worked well on pumps. Just need to be careful not to melt the plastic.

You can't go wrong with West, they wrote the book on epoxy, additives and procedures. But it is expensive. I have tried some TotalBoat products and been satisfied. Haven't tried the epoxy. I bought B&B epoxy, wood flour/Cabosil mix, glass tape and pumps for my builds. Much cheaper and I found no draw backs using it. Dunno who made it, don't really care, it wouldn't mean anything if I did know. If you order the amounts suggested in the plans, from B&B, at the time you order your kit, you will get it in time and end up with a tad left over, unless you are a complete slob, and then probably still have enough to finish.

Just about any B&B sailboat build thread could have useful info. The 4 Spindrifts are so similar that any thread would be good for details to see. I would also start your own thread. You can post progress and ask questions as you go. Specific questions always seem to me to elicit the best information.

Looking things up is better than guessing. https://www.etsy.com/search?q=greenland paddle

It isn't really needed if the oars are stored indoors or under cover. But letting a little oil soak in once in a while can only be positive. And you still have the non-skid of natural wood.

My oars are varnished, except for the grips which have as coat of boiled linseed oil diluted 50% with turpentine. My buttons are teak and eopoxied on and the leathers are sewn over 4 coats of varnish. I am up to 6 coats on all exposed wood cept the grips. What is the damage and what caused it? Do you have leathers to protect the loom from wear at the rowlocks? 7 feet sounds about right for a Spindrift 11. I use 6'5" for my Spindrift 9 and think it is perfect. It is my 3rd pair of oars and the length is based on how the previous 2 pairs felt. edit: I don't ever use epoxy for waterproofing on solid wood.

It is simply discoloration. If it were under paint you would never know or care. I have no idea why it appeared after 2 years, and if it was UV damage, how it got through so much varnish. I do know, that if there were no epoxy it would not have happened. And if varnish discolored, I could easily remove it.

Bristol Finish is as hard to repair as epoxy resin when either it discolors, or physical damage is done. Here is a picture of my transom. It has 3 coats of epoxy and many, many coats of real varnish. The blotches showed up at around 2 years. At that point I had close to 20 coats of varnish. I tried sanding down and hoping the yellowing was in one of the varnish layers, but it was not. I decided to leave it alone. trying to sand through 2 years cured epoxy and not go through the Sapele vener of the transom seemed way too risky. It hasn't gotten any worse, this picture is today. Varnish can be removed with a heat gun and a semi sharp scraper down to the wood easily and safely. 2 part anything is another story. For painted surfaces there is no real issue. Epoxy filler can repair all damage. But when it is supposed to stay bright, it is a different issue.

She got better in the second video. Her recovery in the first video was higher than needed. Yeah, I would enjoy the glide of either boat.

Owning a real rowing boat would be nice, but not practical due to storage restrictions. In the end, it wouldn't give me any more excercise than I get now. I would like a better glide, the Spindrift slows down quickly after each stroke. Going faster, gliding faster would mean I would need a longer route to get the same work out. It would be fun though to build a mini Whitehall or a Wherry. I just think they are gorgeous. BTW Don, your videos don't work for me.

The lathe idea sounds cool, though I never epoxied my masts, or any other solid wood that would be varnished.

Ha ha, another boat. I am quite sure it is mostly a matter of getting stronger. I learned to row well at 12 years at Boy Scout Camp. I took rowing merit badge that summer and my instructor was a varsity member of the Brown crew team. I have been rowing with a proper feathered stroke ever since. In all seriousness,I consider rowing my Spindrift in a similar manner to riding my steel frame bicycle. Getting a faster one isn't going to be more excercise. And then I have to lug a heavier boat across the street to go rowing.

For the past more then a year, excluding summer, when I go to the gym, I have been rowing my Spindrift 9 for excercise. The course I row is 1.5nm around a man made pond/puddle. I have gone from 38 minutes to 25 as of this morning. When I do the math I discover that I keep a pace of 3.6 kts. for almost a half hour. I estimate the hull speed of a Spindrift 9 to be 3.6 kts. as well. Dunno what this means, if it is any good, but I find it interesting.

I did what Scott said.

A few years ago I was talking to Graham at the Woodenboat Show at Mystic Seaport. I was metioning that I might want lighter masts down the road and he suggested an option. A thin wall birdsmouth mast covered with a carbon sleeve/epoxy. Dunno that it will ever happen. I hate sloppy/messy work. I like wood. Nice kayaks.

You can't accelerate with a skinny blade as quickly, but as you get older especially, the lessened impact of a thin blade entering the water is appreciated. I also find I can keep a pace longer. And since you paddle closer to the boat, there is less force wasted on turning the boat like the side stroke of a Euro paddle. If you can master the sliding stroke, it gets really efficient. I haven't paddled in a while, too busy rowing these days.

That is an understatement. I have made West Greenland style kayak paddles and oars out of ALC and it works great with a draw knife as well. Looking good.

I used 3/4" #8 316 stainless pan head screws, drilled pilot holes and bedded the hardware base in BoatLife LifeCaulk. My sail track is bronze, and I bedded the fasteners which are 5/8" #6 316 stainless pan head screws. The only blocking in my masts are the first 4" of the head. Douglas Fir and Alaskan Yellow Cedar both hold fasteners well if you drill the correct size pilot hole. The hole should be the same diameter as the screw shaft, not inlcuding the threads or just a tad smaller in softer woods. For ALC I would err on the slightly smaller side. The screws I used are called self tappers, they have a sharp course thread. FYI, bronze and stainless are really close on the galvanic scale and can be used together. I think many people underestimate the holding power of screws properly secured. Just like prep is the key to a great pain job, properly sized and located pilot holes make all the difference. My gudgeons are screwed on

Steve brings up some important stuff concerning size. My 9N fits in the bed of my small footprint pickup (Tacoma) with the tail gate closed and it fits assembled between the wheels with the tail gate open and it sticking out a tad past it.