Questions about the new boat

[TexasZeke]

Hopefully sometime in the coming weeks I'll be building a new boat and trust me the more I look into things the more questions I have.
I've about decided to get the epoxy and cloth from U.S. Composites
but what weight of cloth should be used?

If I'm covering the the entire thing, inside and out with cloth, will I need tape too? If so what weight, and for what?

Seems like I saw somewhere that somebody mentioned micro balloons or something like that. Do I need them? What do you do with them?

I produce quite a bit of sawdust around here but very little wood flour. I have seen where others used regular wheat flour. Is this ok or do I need to buy wood flour? If about how much should it take to do a 6 panel hull?

I've seen pictures of different peoples build using S&G and some use spacers between the panels when doing the fillets and some don't. Is one way better than the other?

Somebody, think it was pepperfool, just taped the panels together to do the fillets. Seems like this would be quicker and easier than the drilling and wiring, but is one way any better than the other?

Where do yall get your various supplies?

trust me in the days to come there will be lots more questions

thanks
kevin

[Pogo]

The weight of cloth depends on a lot of things. What kind of paddling environment are you facing . . .rocks, or mud? Do you plan to go with just one layer, or double it up in certain places to concentrate strength only where it's needed (I'm talking about keeping a boat light again, sorry, that seems to get me in trouble around here). What kind of wood will be the substrate? Plywood? What thickness? What kind of spans between strong areas like chines, etc.? There's a lot to learn, so I'd just ask another boat builder who faces the same sorts of conditions you do and go with their advice. For instance, if I were going to build a boat for fishing the middle Brazos, I'd ask Gerald; but if it were aimed for Galveston Bay, I'd ask some guy name of Pogo. In any case, let 'em know exactly what boat you want to build, it'll really help. If there's any one commonmost "standard" layup among home boat builders, it'd be one layer of 6 ounce cloth inside and outside. (Side note: It's generally safe to assume folks mean E-glass unless specifically specified otherwise. The other type is S-glass, which is stronger and correspondingly more costly, and not often used by the average home boat builder.)

Don't need tape if you 'glass the whole thing, unless you specifically wish to double up the 'glass along a long skinny area like a wear strip along the keel or something. Basically, you either use tape along the seams, or 'glass the inside, one or the other.

You can use practically anything as an epoxy filler as long as it's dry and clean. Rule of Thumb: Epoxy does not get along well with oil, grease, moisture, etc. Wood flour is just fine sawdust like a belt sander makes; wheat flour, cornmeal, baking powder, biscuit mix, etc., would work, although I might try a small test batch of some weirder things like baking soda first. I'll leave microballoons and fumed silica etc. to Gerald as he has an excellent understanding of them; I just use wood flour out of my belt sander 'cuz it works, it's free, and I ain't buying one thing and throwing another away. Sawdust like you get out of the dust collector works, it just makes a really lumpy goopie that most folks won't be very happy with, though it'd be fine for something like an end pour where smoothness isn't such a big deal.

I never use spacers. As to which is better, as Gerald says, if I'm given a choice of your way or my way, chances are pretty darn good I'll vote for mine.

People use tape, wire ties, zip ties, and god knows what all else to "stitch" panels together. They all work, just in slightly different ways. I use thin wire, and I reckon you can probably guess what my vote will be for.

Various supplies . . . You can get cloth, fillers, etc., from the same source your epoxy comes from. We could probably use a sticky on the subject to cover other sundry items like shock cord, etc., but I'd try Gerald and his Brazos Boat Works first? Failing that, just ask as the need arises, and somebody will have an answer.

Kevin, did I ever address your questions regarding those lightweight paddle shafts?

[gerald]

The USComposites epoxy and fiberglass is fine. I use it. I also use fiberglass from Sweet Composites because they have it in wider widths.

6 oz. e-glass is the standard fiberglass to use. You will need some tape but you can cut your own from the scraps. You will only need to tape at the seam of the deck, around the coaming, possibly the bulkheads, places like that--not the S&G seams of the hull.

You don't need phenolic microballoons. You use that for a very light, low strength fillet and/or for fairing.

You will need wood flour. You can make some with a belt sander. You'll need probably a quart. I use wheat flour only for lighter color and mix it with wood flour. Wheat flour goopie is a little heavy and really doesn't work as well as wood flour.

You don't need spacers. We don't need to worry about the question of which way is best because--you don't need spacers.

You can tape, wire, stick the panels together any way you want as long as it stays in place. Wiring is the best method I've found.

[DarrellS]

I did use phenolic microballoons on my stripper. The only reason being is the wood flour when mixed with epoxy is darker than the wood it came from. The phenolic microballoons turned the goopie white and then I mixed wood flour in until the proper shade was reached. I used this for filling small cracks and nail holes.

[gerald]

I did use phenolic microballoons on my stripper. The only reason being is the wood flour when mixed with epoxy is darker than the wood it came from. The phenolic microballoons turned the goopie white and then I mixed wood flour in until the proper shade was reached. I used this for filling small cracks and nail holes.

Phenolic microballoons are reddish, very light, and make a very low strength fillet. Phenolic micorballoons are also use for fairing because it's easy to fair, scrape, and sand.

You can also get sil-cel spherical microballoons which are white with much the same characteristics of phenolic microballoons.

Both tend to sag a bit when used as goopie.

Wheat flour is a powder, white, heavy, and tends to sag. I only use it for color on some small holes or cracks.

Wood flour looks like a powder but if you look at it with a microscope you can see that it is really still very fine fibers. The fibers cross and crisscross to give the fairly non-sagging, high strength goopie.

And finally we come to fumed silica which is white, light, and makes the highest strength goopie. Looking at fumed silica with a magnifying glass it looks kind of like snow flakes. Good stuff, very high strength--you can make tiny fillets with this stuff. You can also add a tablespoon of fumed silica to the last fill coat or two to make it harder.

[Pogo]

Very cool! I keep a microscope for a pet too!! Amazing things they can show you, how in the world do they make stuff like microballoons???

[DarrellS]

Actually I went out to the shop and looked. This is what I used to turn the epoxy white, before mixing wood flour in to the correct shade.

3M Glass Bubbles
(K-25)
These hollow glass microspheres can be added to any epoxy and polyester resin. These bubbles will make a lightweight, easy sanding putty for minor surface filling of cracks, holes, etc.

[gerald]

Actually I went out to the shop and looked. This is what I used to turn the epoxy white, before mixing wood flour in to the correct shade.

3M Glass Bubbles
(K-25)
These hollow glass microspheres can be added to any epoxy and polyester resin. These bubbles will make a lightweight, easy sanding putty for minor surface filling of cracks, holes, etc.

Yes...exactly the same as spherical microballoons. The color change in wood is just one very good reason why I do a precoat before filling holes and cracks. Sometimes the filler doesn't change color like the wood.

[DarrellS]

Thanks for that tip while I was building. It made a world of difference in matching the goopie to the wood.

[TexasZeke]

Kevin, did I ever address your questions regarding those lightweight paddle shafts

yes you did, I have the links bookmarked and it's on my project list to give it a try