CS17 #370 Peggy-O

[Designer]

Lennie,

 

Those decks are coated with epoxy and then varnished. There is no stain or any colorant. It is the same wood as you have.

[Dale Niemann]

Lennie,

 

I did not stain anything on 'Lively'.

 

Don't know if this will help or not but here is an article on the CLC site.

 

http://www.clcboats.com/shoptips/finishing-tips/staining-your-kayak.html

 

dale

[PAR]

Stains work, as do adding pigments to the epoxy sealing coats. Matching color is very difficult on plywood boats, simply because you don't have enough depth over the fastener head to install a bung and make it stay there (it'll pop out). Some putties are stainable, but do some tests on what colors, the amount and compare it to the same plywood you'll be fixing the holes in. I usually use paint and an artist's brush or air brush.

 

The sequence is stain, seal (epoxy), then bulk up the epoxy (additional coats) followed by your clear coat (varnish, urethane, etc.). If you need to match colors on the fastener hole fillers, your testing should offer this part of the process. Also use the epoxies designed for clear coats, as they are much clearer.

[Dale Niemann]

Lennie,

 

As a reminder in case you do not remember what 'Lively' looks like see attached photo.  Again, no stains.  Just regular epoxy and Captains varnish 7 coats.

dale

[Paul356]

Here's a photo of my transom.  It's just epoxy, no stain, like Graham said; spar varnish will follow, and that can affect the color. It's the ply from the kit. The color is more even, not splotchy.  I guess that's due to the flash.

[PAR]

I don't like stains much, preferring to see wood under clear most of the time. Okoume is an odd ball, often needing something, if only to make it standup a bit. Regular epoxy, instead of the special clear epoxy, is usually enough for me, but some like a little stain to bring up the grain. Meranti looks great under clear and I hate when mahogany is stained, as it ruins the reflective quality the silica in it offers, if simply clear coated.

 

Stains can be used to even things out, with some species that tend to get blotchy. A sanding sealer can solve this issue, but so can stain. In the end, it's your call, but your build is looking fine, so which ever you pick, I'm sure it will reflect this (literally).

[LennieG]

Thanks very much guys. Avoided an unforced error on that one! No stains.

[LennieG]

Closing in on it......photos show progress. No photo but installed foreward mast tube today. Knocking off the list, hoping for a couple hot days to epoxy under side of deck and deck beams, then install deck.

[PAR]

It'll be this weekend and the first of the week Lennie, because some Canadian decided we needed to know what winter was like and sent some down. We're showing 80's by Sunday, so hold on my friend, they can't beat us down for long. I can here it now,"isn't it nice to have seasons, the football weather and all . . .". Yeah I like seasons and football too, which is why I moved to a place where we on have the good seasons and tailgating means actually sitting on a tailgate, in a pair of shorts, enjoying scantly clad teenagers running around in football season.

[LennieG]

Ok Paul and enjoy the football this weekend. Just don't wear a trench coat in those situations if you find it cold.☺️

I cut the deck pieces proud so as not to cut them small. Contemplating best method of trimming deck and thinking MicroPlane ( Japanese rasp type thing). Or low angle block plane, or in places a router, but I don't have an adjustable base to gain angle changes, nor see an aftermarket one available for my rigid laminate trimmer route or larger craftsman router. How would you trim?

[makenmend]

I used a pull saw and block plane, went quite quickly all in all.

[PAR]

I used a laminate trimmer (mini router) and a flush cutting bit. I place a couple layers of masking tape on the hull to offer a bit edge to trim, after the bulk of the decking was removed.

[LennieG]

Thanks for feedback! I love the idea of using the trimmer and will play with the masking tape.

Also can see the pull saw working.....good solutions

[LennieG]

Needed to take a little break from Epoxy but back at it and making progress. Took her outside today to check on mast plumb and alignment . Main mast locked in but some flexibility on mizzen as mast tube not installed......looks fairly close and where they don't line up all fixable with aft mast tube installation.

No pictures but port fore deck installed, sprits done, rudder shaped and half glassed.

[mattp]

Looking good Lennie!

Are you building in a storage unit?

[PAR]

Now that you can play around with the mizzen step placement, consider a canting mizzen. Picture a sliding mast heel in a track, canting as much as 15 degrees to each side. Your upwind performance will improve dramatically and it's not a tough engineering problem to solve. The first time I tried this I use d a 12 VDC cordless drill, chucked to a length of all-thread, attached to an eye in the bottom of the track mounted mast.

[Peter HK]

Great post

It's missing the smiley face though

Since the centreboard case is in the way it could only improve the upwind performance on one tack

Cheers

Peter HK

[LennieG]

Thanks Matt-

Yes in a storage room and working out well. Hope to keep it going when boat is done if I can find projects/boats to build. Epoxy will not be part of my future unfortunately but will figure out something.

[LennieG]

One more deck panel to go......

[LennieG]

Used some 12 oz Biax glass today to cap the leading edge of my rudder. It nearly disintegrated....just pulled apart on me. Went through a couple steps of discarding what I had and wet down newly cut pieces, placed them on the edge gingerly but still had challenges of it pulling it apart. Eventually got it on there but it was less than whole. I drenched it in epoxy a couple times after that but don't feel it was the right choice for me or I did something wrong. Did my product breakdown in storage or just bad choice for this task? Would appreciate your input so I can understand what I have learned.

Thanks