Build the deck, I dare you.

So, suffice it to say, if you don't have someone who is an epoxy expert to hold your hand through your first epoxy ordeal,you may be hooped. Some people live after going over the falls in a barrel. You may also. 

Now you must build the deck. How you accomplish this is your choice. Isn't that helpful? That was my feeling exactly. Some folks want to get arty at this point with all kinds of curves and and color changes. Others want to do the staple-less thing. I myself just wanted to get the first boat built with out it being too ugly. 

I scratched my noggin for a few days and decided to start with a central strip, and work towards the shears. My problem was in the fact I did not continue my shear strips to meet at each end. What I did was to bring the centre strip right to the ends and it was a serious pain in the butt to get the shear strips right. I had to get creative with filler pieces to solve the problem. It all sands out in the end if you are patient.

 

I secured the centre strip to the stations by drilling a small hole above each station and using a skewer to pin the strip into it. This was aided by my self leveling laser which made for a dead straight line. It doesn't always go so smooth, believe me. The strip was a nice bright piece of spruce which had the cove ripped off. The bead stuck upwards and helped define the break line for sanding. I used some of the dark chocolate colored cedar for one strip each side of the centre, then used a two white spruce strips on each side of that. It makes for a nice racing stripe. Even though the centre strip is a serious pain with the shears, it sure looks cool to have that thin white line come right to the very ends of the deck. The shears are regular cedar color for two strips, and then I added a strip with the cove cut square. I then worked from the centre to the shears, and mitered to the square edge. This is so much easier than trying to shape a matching bead by hand. It looks much better, too.

Because the deck is flatter than the hull, there weren't any radical bends to make, but things did get a bit tight at the very ends. I used a lot of clamps at the bow point, and used painters tape to assist with the clamps. I use the plastic version of a pony clamp that I buy on sale at my local Chinese hardware.  And with this I mean a large hardware store where everything is made in China, but run by local folks. We will crush the running Imperial dog with our manufacturing might! I digress. The plastic clamps have two different clamping strengths, depending on the springs. Some are very strong and some aren't. How technical of me. Anyway, plan on buying a few hundred thousand of these cramps as they are cheap, and you can never have too many.

I was feeling cocky as I zoomed through stripping the deck. A little voice in the back of head asked if this was the wisest approach. I ignored the little voice, and for this I must pay. Not every hand shaped bead was a success. In fact not even one. There was a disturbing amount of gaps where I thought I had made the bead and cove mate, but apparently didn't. A couple of miters weren't really miters. And I thought for sure I had left enough length in all the strips that ended over the cockpit. I hadn't. I had to join a few strips together and fill in a few blanks because I wasn't paying enough attention. It's probably a good thing that I don't work in a nuclear facility of any kind. Any who, It looked like I was going to have another filler lesson. 

I failed horribly at filler. I filled most of the holes and gaps, but I can't color match to save my life. I think I actually highlighted the staple holes. All my filler went a very dark, almost black in a soul sucking way you might imagine a black hole to be. I myself have grown to love the holes in only that way a parent could love a convicted serial killer. A disappointment I'm bound to get past. In time.

Sanding the deck fair was much easier than the hull. The tricky parts were the ends. I actually removed a lot of wood in the stern to correct for a couple of low spots, and I may beef up the interior with an extra piece of glass. The cockpit recess was hard to level, and I had to go a bit farther down than I wanted. I was sure I had done a better job at keeping the recess consistent, but two strips slipped a bit low, and the whole thing was affected. Live and learn, I suppose. I made a single bad saw stoke at the peak of the recess cutout, and had to find a way to cover my mistake. I took a square strip of dark cedar, and cut it in to fit on end. I carefully cut the first recess strip to accept it and when it was cut flush, it made a little brown diamond that ties the centre stripe into the recess pinstripe. An error turned into a nice little detail. 

 

Before I knew it, it was epoxy time again. Sigh. I masked off the edges like recommended. I think I used too much tape. I didn't discover this until it was way past too late. Another sigh. It's really hard to dig tape out of epoxy thats is many layers deep. What a mess it can make.

I spread the cloth out carefully, and started spreading the epoxy. It seemed to go well. This was to try to lull me into a false sense of security. Where the epoxy has to break over an edge like the cockpit recess, it is important to check the cloth frequently while the epoxy gels because it tends to want to lift, and if it gels and sets, you will need the sand out the lump and it will be not much fun. Maybe none. I discovered that the hard way, me. The gel up process  is really important to get your head around. You can level and fill at this stage quite effectively, but your window isn't that large. I like to leave a bit of epoxy in the bottom of the cup that I can dig out at this stage. It is quite thick, and spreads slowly, so be careful. I imagine when you've done a few more boats, you'll get the hang of it. It is still beyond me, but with patience, you will get acceptable results. I promise. 

When I felt I had enough coats of epoxy to sand off, I let it cure and then popped the deck off the mold. This was a little tricky as the stems didn't want to let go right away. The mold release tape on the stems helped. I hung the deck up from the ceiling with cloth straps, and contemplated the inside of the hull.....

Dante's Epoxy

If you have never worked with epoxy, here are a few things you should know. It is very expensive. It requires a whole bunch of plastic tools that are flexible enough for epoxy the break off of once it's dry. It will ruin your clothes when you get it on your self. Not if, when. Once you start putting it on, you are committed to finishing as many coats as you hope to apply. This can take a few days. Seriously. Depending on a bunch of factors like temperature, humidity and which hardeners you use, you can blow a weekend trying to re- apply as your gel up time ends. It's like climbing a mountain. After the exciting part, you have to climb down. But with out the word exciting. Ever been divorced? You lived through that, you can live through this.

Once you get up the nerve to start, make sure you use a tack cloth before you lay out the glass. Here is where you you might want to use a cheap sacrificial brush. Some recommend a foam brush or roller, but they will introduce too much air into the cloth. You don't want to pour the epoxy at this point, either. If you've never done this, you will likely pour too much and the glass will float on the resin, and a lot will drip off. Start in the middle of the boat and work towards the stems doing one side at a time. Work fast, but try not to work up a lather in the resin. You want the epoxy to soak into the glass, but with out too much excess. This is really tricky at first. You will have to squeegee off the excess once you've completed the first coat, so try not put it on too thick. Make sure you keep an eye where you've been, and add epoxy to resin starved areas. If you can see the glass as white, you need a bit more. The squeegee or plastic applicator or spreader or thing-me or whatever you choose to call it will be a tool you will need to become one with as you continue in boat land. This little fella will set the standard to how much sanding you will need to do. Good luck with that.

To be honest, I did not really get the hang of it right off. Not even close. The kids would say I was pwnd by the epoxy, but thats silly. There aren't even any consonants in pwnd. I was out matched. Defeated almost. I probably sanded off more epoxy than I put on, which is impossible, but I probably did anyway. It's my story, so shut up. I added a strip of 9 ounce tape down the length as an abrasion strip. I didn't know I had purchased 9 ounce tape and it doesn't wet out very well. I was not impressed by this fact, so be warned. If you put it on, you will see it. You will also see that you didn't get it exactly straight, too. I hate being reminded that I screw up. Often. The other problem I had was low spots. What I didn't figure out at this point was epoxy is workable for a long time. As it gels up, you can keep leveling it. Sags can be smoothed out, hollows raised, and drips and ridges flattened. This can be as much as six to eight hours after application. It can also be 2 or 3 hours after application. It depends and the aforementioned conditions. Why should it be easy for you? But you will prevail or you will suck. One of the two. Once you have started to sand and you find all your imperfections as shiny spots, make sure you rough up said shiny spots, or your next filler coat will not bond. You probably won't know this until you hit a rock while paddling and the epoxy de-laminates. Sanding is required to get a good mechanical bond between the cured and un-cured epoxy.

How fair the hull will be is up to you. If you did good carpentry, and everything is straight, the likely hood of a fair hull is promising. If not, you will probably end up paddling in circles. That won't be good.