Lessons learned.. Epoxy and I have something in common... We both hate cold and wet!!

This was a period of hard lessons learned. I ended last cycle with one hull inverted and the other nearly ready to flip. I really expected to have both bums done and the two hulls joined with the bridge deck in place by now but it didn't happen that way.

So the progress of the hulls was slower than I like but the knowledge gained on this cycle exceeded expectations. (Glass half full!)

I had the inverted hull in the shed with the aft end protruding just out the door where it was covered with tarps. The other hull was still in the female forms in the tent. The plan was to bring the hull in the shed to primer paint and then flip the other and do the same. Then re-flip them and tow the starboard hull in the shed out to the tent and position with supports and stick on the assembled bridge deck. Yeah, that was the plan…

Hard lesson # 1.
Epoxy hates wet cold weather.... I was laying up tape joints on the chines and it was going well. The day was a little cool but not bad and I was working in the shed anyway. I had done the prep work of sanding the edges to round them off a bit and cleaned up my mess. Then I did 2 full length tapes, one after the other, and the result looked very good. Actually the cool weather worked out pretty good as I got a little more 'open time' so could be especially careful of consolidating the joint, making sure there were no air bubbles on the edges or other niggling little blemish. The problem began as soon as I was wrapping up the days work. I could feel the temperature dropping as I cleaned up and by the time it was beer thirty it started to drizzle ... hmm No problem. I had the aft section enclosed in more tarps in a few minutes and went back to my beer.

Sixty mm of rain with 30+ knots of wind that night and cold as a witches tit, and I'm told that is really cold. The damage was apparent the next morning when I checked the previous days work. The epoxy nearer the stern that was facing the tarps had a distinct colour of milk and was struggling to go off. A swag of heaters and a shiny new heat gun were put to work and may have made a wee bit of difference over the next several days. That was the opening salvo of a weather system that brought us the coldest and wettest season in over twenty years. Which brings me to....

Hard lesson # 2
When selecting the site for a temporary shelter, study the geography and consider that before anything else. As I write this it has been clear now for over a week but in my tent, now known as "The Swamp" the ground is still mush and there is mould covering some of the plywood forms. I had inadvertently placed the tent in line with a natural drainage system that was not obvious in dry conditions. Until that all dries out the tent is a toxic environment for epoxy. (see Hard Lesson # 1)

So what to do.. I talked to a couple people who's experience was greater than mine.. well much greater than mine... Randall of Gypsy Marine up in Vietnam said he thought I might be able to get away with it but to tent the thing to dry her out and bring it up to 50 degrees before painting. Steve Jant of SPJ Yachts opinion was "if in doubt, cut it out". I didn't EVEN want to hear that! The next joint was going to overlap the contaminated one so rather than take a chance of burying the trouble further I cut out the worst of it and I think it is OK. I do think Randall has a good point about the painting though. I won't put on paint until I get a run of dry weather and can heat the shed. But the next #$%&!@#$ that tells me "we really needed that rain" is going to die!

Hard lesson # 3
Make sure you know what is in that pile of materials that came with the kit before you use the stuff! I had been using ATL resin and hardener which was working very well. I ran out of a batch and went for another and.. what is this? "Super fast" hardener! Even in cool weather this was too much for doing big jobs. Is it me? I contacted Bill Brosnan who has built an epoxy boat and asked him about it. He said, "I remember using fast hardener... once. Never rushed so much in all my life. Although I know people just south of Hobart that use it all the time during winter. Mind you, they have to microwave it first to get it to flow!"
No problem, just order up another batch of the "medium" that I was used to but...

Hard lesson # 4
Fuel costs have driven truckies to the wall. As hardener is classified as "dangerous goods" it further complicates the matter so the two day delivery schedule turned into a week... the only dry warm week of the whole bloody month!

To prevent more trouble I did what I should have done a month earlier. I shoved the hull further inside the shed so I could roll the door closed. It's cramped working but... With the shed buttoned up and avoiding the worst rain periods I was able to finish the tape joints and cover the plywood I had applied to the keel panel as a grounding buffer, with two layers of fibre glass. One layer of 435 gram db cut to the shape inside the tape joints already done and then another layer that covered the lot all the way to the second chine. This will add a little weight to the hull but I do want a beachable cat. I've seen what happens when a skipper beaches a boat in ways not intended by the builder and it's not nice.

Hard lesson # 5
The best way to build an epoxy boat is to do it continuously, start to finish, wet on wet! OK, so not entirely possible for a home builder but it's a good idea to keep in mind. When I did the layers over the keel panel I did do them wet on wet, same day but by the end of it I was pretty tired. I couldn't cover it all with peel ply, the nylon cloth that is applied onto wet epoxy so that when it sets the cloth is peeled away taking the "amine blush" with it and leaving a surface rough enough to take subsequent work. "Amine blush" is the residue that comes to the top of epoxy as it sets. It is especially rich in moist conditions. Epoxy that is applied over an area of blush won't stick well. I sanded back the whole bloody bum but the fabric had enough texture that in recess's you could still see that shiny surface... I called Dave Clifford (It's great to know so many knowledgeable people!) and asked him if I could get away with it.. nope.. so I also washed the whole thing whilst scrubbing with a Scotchbrite pad. The blush is water soluble. Dave doesn't like peel ply. His method is to cover the fibre glass with bogg right away even if it means working 18 hours straight. He reckons you have to sand the bogg anyway and it is easier to sand than glass. Besides the labour savings this insures a good bond between layers.

Good lesson # 1
There has to be at least one good trick learned per cycle.. I had thought about trying a cake decorating tool for applying bogg for filleting but couldn't find a store in Hervey Bay that had one! Figures… Leon of Tykahele boats in T'ville said I should try just a zip-lock bag with a corner cut off but actually I had a better bag to try. Back in another life (I've had a surprising variety of lives..) I sold Lightning Ridge Opal delivered in heat sealed plastic bags. They are perfect shape and heavy duty. The first panel I tried was a bulkhead and I reckoned the bag cut the time to a fraction and made the job tidier.

I regret I didn't get more photos this time. When doing the glass over the keel panel I would not allow my partner up there and I just couldn't interrupt the flow to do them myself. For the bogg bag that Leon figures he has a copyright on and calls a "sprong", I got some demo photos made that are with this article.

So that is where I am. One hull ready to bogg, all sanded and washed and DRIED! The other ignored until this climate change I've been promised happens or until I can put it in the shed.

Was this time a waste? Absolutely not!! It has been frustrating not seeing the progress but what I have learned in the last month will have a profound effect on the rest of the project. I will be ordering (with plenty of lead time) some SLOW hardener as I don't see any virtue in the fast. It may be handy on occasion but certainly not essential.

I certainly have a list of people to thank. Besides those mentioned above, Frank and Jane of SY Escondido were over on many occasions to help which was appreciated but mostly I enjoyed the company. We listened to much good rock and roll and blues. I know you are "supposed to suffer" for your boat and I'm sure I will do my share... but not today!
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