BryanLee

I do use a mixer, it is small, a piece of wood about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch square. I put 2 finishing nails in each side at staggered heights and a screw in one end then cut the end off the screw. I use the screw to chuck it into a small drill press at low speed. It works well, I have never had a problem with air bubbles in the epoxy (I use MAS slow cure, if that might make a difference) I do notice it gets a little cloudy from air mixed in, but it clears up fast and I have not noticed any ill effects in the finish of the epoxy. I only use the mixer to mix the epoxy before adding any thickeners, and use scrap wood or plastic knife for mixing in the thickeners. I never clean it, just put some newspaper under it to catch the drips. The extra epoxy creates little stalactites of epoxy off the nails which are handy for scraping the sides of the cup while mixing. At first I had to be careful not to cut the cup with the nail heads, but now that they are well covered that is not an issue. I use plastic Dixie type cups for mixing, 16 oz size which I never fill more then half way, but I did learn this week to make sure they are ROUND all the way down! I got some with little impressions in the side, which I guess are supposed to help you hold the cups? Or just to look cool, but when the mixer hits the bumps, it tries to knock the cup from my hand! Not sure this is the best way, but its what I do, for what its worth. Bryan

Thanks Randy! Found it, and it's very interesting. Will definitely have to think about a possible keel application on my spindrift. Bryan

"Tom Lathrop's epoxy impregnated rope trick" Sounds interesting, I tried searching here and on google, but did not turn up anything. Can you point me to more information on this idea? I am going to be adding the keel to my spindrift 11N soon. Thanks! Bryan

Bizarre and a bit nuts, yes, but he is sailing in Mexico and I am sitting in a little cube staring at a screen at 6pm on a Friday night... Good for him!

Hi all, I just got the hull of my spindrift 11N wired up, I have not completely wired in the bulkheads and transom yet and I have a few questions. Currently the hull is sitting on a flat surface, right side up. I noticed the keel line changes depending on whether I leave the hull sitting flat, or lift it up. Sitting flat the hull is flatter on the bottom, but not totally flat, it seems to line up well with the angles on the transom and nesting bulkheads. Lifting the hull so the keel is off the surface adds a little more V to the bottom, but also increases the gap between the center bulkheads and the bottom. I think it is best to leave it sitting flat when I weld the seams with epoxy, but I have seen others talking about putting it in a cradle before gluing the seams, which seems to me that it might change the bottom profile. Is it better to leave the bottom on a flat surface, or in a cradle, or will it not really matter either way once the bottom is wired to the center bulkheads? Pics can be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/WannaBeBoatBuilder/Dinghy# if anyone is interested in taking a peek. Thanks, Bryan

Thanks for the input, I have seen Noah's Marine mentioned here, but had not looked into yet. Their prices are good enough compared to the local supply that shipping charges just might make it worth while, and they carry MAS epoxy which I have used before and really like but can not get local anymore that I am aware of. Hmmm... 5mm does sound like a possible way to go. (Wish you had yours done so I knew how it turned out ;D )

[quote author=Hirilond

Thanks for the detail on the fiberglass weight, I had looked a little to see if I could find out just how much more that would add but had not found the numbers yet. 6 - 7 pounds sounds worth it for the extra protection, that is probably the route I will go. Thanks! Bryan

Hello, I just received the plans for a Spindrift 11N we will be building over the winter to use as a tender for our sailboat in the PNW for a while and hopefully to Mexico and beyond someday. The one we have now is a little small to carry me, my wife and two kids safely, at least if they grow anymore, which they seem to be reluctant to quit doing... I have built a few small boats before, two CLC Kayaks and a couple small duck hunting layout boats from 1950s plans, all for other people. My first boat was for myself, but was built for less then $100 and was lots of fun but did not last very long. Anyway, to the point, all 4 of the nicer boats I built where all made with Okoume plywood, with fiberglass covering the outside of the hull. I just assumed the Spindrift would be the same, but reading over the plans, I figured out the plans only call for glass tape on the seams, and epoxy coating only on the rest of the panels. So my question is this... We tend to land the dingy on rock beaches with barnacles and such, and with the high tide ranges need to pull it up quite a ways before going for a hike or something. In short, I think we are fairly hard on the bottom of our dingy and I do not think it realistic to think we can be more careful all the time like we could be if we launched from a ramp for dingy races as such. How would just the plywood without glass hold up to the abrasion of rocky, barnacley beaches and kids rowing the dingy around and bumping into rocks and such? Weight is also a concern, as we need to be able to haul this thing up on the bow of the boat without too much trouble. Yes we can do it one half at a time which will help, but I also do not want to add so much weight we can barely manage the loading / unloading the dingy in wind and waves and stay safe. Has anybody looked at glassing the hull and may be using thinner plywood? Perhaps only thinner ply on the topsides, but not hte bottom panels? The glass and ply combined to give the same straight as thicker ply, but the glass to add abrasion resistance and thinner ply to lessen the increase in weight? Or will the ply/epoxy without glass perform better then I fear and I should just stick to the plans? Any advice or experience with these issues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Bryan