Tips and Tricks

[benhardt57]

A 1/2" drill might be a little tricky, but a 90° countersink does a great job.

[PAR]

Not in this case, but there are several countersink angles you need to consider, for good fits. I learned this the hard way and the most common is the 82 degree countersink, followed by the 90 degree. SAE wood screws are 82, while metric are 90. Machine and sheet metal screws are 90. Most all stainless screws are actually sheet metal, not wood (threads all the way up the shank) and are 90 degrees. Also, some stainless screws can be 100 degrees, particularly in smaller sizes (#10 and down). For a lasing hole, not a big deal, but other stuff something to think about.

[even-keeled]

Prevent spar varnish from curing in its can.

 

With oil-based spar varnish (and maybe other oil based coatings), curing is caused by oxygen in the air inside the can. I didn't know that and about 1/3 qt turned to gel during my build.

  I found a product on the internet, Bloxygen, a can of argon gas. Apparently the argon stays low and displaces the oxygen when sprayed into the paint can before sealing. I'll buy some before opening any more paint cans. It's supposed to work for wine as well.

[Kudzu]

Propane works too. If you have those hand held torches, just put the head in the can, open the valve and seal it. Yes is is flammable but so is varnish and oil based paints.

[Action Tiger]

We just always used our pungent coffee breath. Back when we had oil based stuff.

 

I’m so used to water clean up stuff, now...

 

Peace,

Robert

[even-keeled]

Lashed foot brace brackets

 

  I cut six of these from spare BB ply. Stainless attach screws will thread into t-nuts on the skin side of each bracket (Brace attach holes not drilled yet). Once lashed around the gunwales and chine stringers, they don't budge. I'm confident that this will be a great way to give foot braces a solid foundation without drilling into stringers.

 

[even-keeled]

Here's the complete mounting. Stainless T-nuts were pricey so I went with zinc plated ones encapsulated in rtv.

[benhardt57]

This idea may or may not help. I guess it needs to be verified.

I built my Short Shot back in winter 2017 using loose weave polyester and three coats of Rustoleum. Because I had so much water coming in after just minutes, I added another coat of  paint. It seemed to help a little, but was far from satisfactory.

 

This past May (2018) I decided to add another coat, but with an emphasis on filling in the pores in the fabric. With a mini-roller I liberally applied paint to about 2 square feet. Then with a folded microfiber towel, I rubbed it in with a circular motion as if waxing a car. Lastly, I smoothed the area with another pass of the roller. I did this for the entire bottom of the boat. 

 

Saturday I took her out for the first time since last summer and was very satisfied with the results. Of course now I have five coats of paint, so did the trick actually solve my problem? Would this problem have been solved sooner if I tried this procedure back on coats 2 and 3? I may never know.

 

I'd like to hear from anyone that get a chance to try it and has success.

 

- Ben

[Hirilonde]

Did you thin the first coat?  That is very effective in saturating the cloth and is what Jeff recommends.  Rubbing it in is another way to get penetration of the weave, it may very well have helped in your case. I did all my boats with a mini roller and brush for the stitching and around the combing and such. It worked well on all 5 boats I did.  If I had issues with any of my boats, I would try the rubbing thing.  I found working paint into the stitching with a brush a useful technique and is similar.  My boats were so many cloth options ago I don't know how that compares to today.