Another first timer here!

[TerryJames]

Thanks Mark. I remember thinking to myself after the first coat that everything was looking almost perfect. We had 2 little creases in the fiberglass but it was pretty minor and I was really pleased with what we accomplished. The second coat is where we got into the trouble. At first I thought it was the humidity outside but I really think it came down to just using too much epoxy and not having a thin even coat. I just talked to a buddy of mine and we are going to start by long boarding it on Tuesday and see if we can just make it smooth. If we can, then we will proceed with 2 more thin epoxy coats and go from there. If it looks ok, we will just proceed to doing the inside of the canoe and go from there.

If after that, I’m not happy with it, I think I’ll just drive it down to Iowa and lean it up against Jim’s shed when he isn’t home and just hightail out of there. I’m sure if he saw it, he wouldn’t be able to resist fixing it and finding use out of it. Haha. At that point, I’ll just start all over again.

Anyways, I’m still going to need more epoxy to finish this up. What RAKA epoxy/hardener combo are you guys using? I would assume the 127 / 350 Non Blushing combo?

Terry

 

[TerryJames]

If you can’t tell, I’m abit frustrated!

 

[alsg]

Scrape/sand it smooth & varnish. It will look fine. You will be amazed at how drips and runs will be invisible when you sand them smooth and varnish.

 

[dogbrain]

Alsg is right on. Your plan sounds good. I would definitely use scrapers first to get out the sags and drips. You'll save money on sandpaper. Youre right on the type of epoxy and hardened, that's what I use. Just remember that Raja is 2:1 mix ratio, different from west. If you give them a commercial address for shipping you'll save a few bucks. This canoe will come out fine. You've learned a lot for your next build.

Mark

 

[TerryJames]

I’ll report back on Tuesday night on how it’s looking.

 

[stripperguy]

Definitely DO NOT attempt to sand back down to the wood. Those runs are only in the fill coats. As long as you don't have a lot of entrained air (bubbles) in the fill coats, best to scrape down until it's smooth. Then consider adding another covering coat of resin, or just sand smooth and varnish.
As you found out, rolling on the resin is pretty tricky, it's very easy to entrain air in the resin. The trick is to get as much resin on the hull with as little rolling as possible. (as little rolling in the tray too) And for the squeegees, I always make sure I have 6 or 8 of them handy. If one gets munged up, I just set it aside and grab another.

In any case, it will look fine with a little more effort, but stripping it all off is waaaay more work than necessary.

As for the RAKA resin, I use either 127 or 900, depending on how tight a weave cloth I have. And I use one of the 600 hardeners, depending on the temperatures I'm working with. Never tried the 350 non blush stuff, but I know quite a few of the guys here have been very pleased with it.

I have a buddy that built a 327 pro boat, back in '80 or '81. He used polyester rein with a definite green tint to it. By the time he was done wetting out and adding fill coats, his beautiful hull looked like a Molson bottle. His wife said "I ain't going anywhere in that thing". He stripped off all the glass, and in the process the hull slipped off the forms, splitting almost all the way in half. He also sanded a few holes in the hull. He did manage to piece it all back together, and I helped him glass it with epoxy resin. Up to the day he sold it many years later, all of his staple holes had a green tint to them. He would have been better off to leave it as it was, and just paint the exterior.
As you will find out, a stripper is much faster with a painted exterior, simply because you won't have to entertain all those folks asking about it... What kind of boat is that? Did you build that? Was that a kit? (my personal fav)

Edit:
If you finish the exterior with varnish, the wood color and grain will hide many surface imperfections. Should you decide to paint the hull, you'll need to be vigilant to make the hull as fair as possible, since any undulations will be on full display.

 

[TerryJames]

Hey stripper guy,

Definetly not a kit. I bought plans from Bear Mountain for the 15ft Prospector Ranger, but I’ve put the work in, instead of buying a kit. The only prefab/purchased pieces will be the seats, although I will hand cane them myself. The only reason I planned on buying seat frames is because I don’t have a drill press and I think it will look better if the holes are aligned perfectly and from a cost perspective it will only cost me about $30 more than doing it myself.

I have 4 coats of epoxy on it now, but all or most of the runs are from the second coat. I’m really hoping that I can get this sanded down evenly because painting it is not something that I would even consider. If necessary I can just put another coat or two of epoxy on it.

I know this thread has gotten pretty long but I think I mentioned in the beginning that I am building this canoe more to challenge myself and not necessarily to actually have a canoe to paddle around. (I do plan on paddling it though and looking forward to doing so, don’t get me wrong). I’ve never actually paddled a canoe before, and I’ve never built anything out of wood before either. When I started this project, the only real tools I had was a basic tool kit and a cordless drill. I’ve gone out and bought pretty much all the tools I’ve needed and had to watch videos on how to use half of them. That and all the great tips I’ve picked up from experienced people like yourself, Jim, Mark and everyone else on this forum. That by far has been the best asset.

When I started this project, I read through the canoe craft book and a lot of forum posts, but really had no idea what was going on since most of the terminology was foreign to me.

With that being said, I know that I could just leave the runs in the boat and finish the canoe up, but my ultimate goal is not to just have a finished canoe, it’s something that I can feel proud showing to people and explaining how we can do anything with the right determination. I have no doubt that I will get there though, even if I have to start over.

terry

 

[Jim Dodd]

From the pics, it looks fine ! Trim the cloth .

Scraping the hull within about 24 hrs, is much easier, than waiting and sanding it. I doubt you need more epoxy.

A scraper will take just the high spots, and runs, a ROS will sand around them.

I love a carbide paint scraper ! Even if it's several days later, as opposed to sanding !

As Stripperguy says, don't sand down to the wood ! Dogbrain and Algs are spot on.

Varnish will hide scars you make in the fabric. But try and avoid sanding into the weave of the cloth.

Hull looks great !

Jim

 

[dogbrain]

"Is that from a kit" Ha, that's my favorite question. NOT! One reason I painted my last canoe.

Terry, you've done an awesome job on that canoe. Keep up the good work.

 

[TerryJames]

Finally got the chance to get back out here to fix the fiberglass. Planned on coming out on Tuesday but I ordered some paint scrapers and they just came in yesterday. Used the paint scrapers to take out all the high spots from the runs which worked extremely well. Using a longboard, I sanded the hull to 120grit. Doesn’t look like I took off much of the resin, but I want to put another coat on anyways. Hoping that if I scrape it right, it will fill in and leave me with the smooth surface I’m looking for. Since it’s November in Wisconsin here, I’m loosing all my extra hands due to the hunting season, so might be awhile before I can finally get the last coats on and finally flip it over to see the beauty.

In the mean time, I suppose I should start building the cradles and caning the seats.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Beware of that extra coat showing blotchy spots on the hull. Sometimes a Mechanical bond is more visible than a Chemical bond.

I experienced this years ago. It could have been Blush, it was a long time ago.

Jim

 

[TerryJames]

Just wanted to give a quick update.

I finally got a chance to get back to the canoe project! Ended up sanding down the outside again and putting on another coat of epoxy. Went back and forth if I should do it or not and finally decided Imto do it although it was probably unnecessary, but I wanted to make sure it was all sealed up.

As far as blotchy spots? I really don’t see anything obvious. I did use a roller this time and that turned out to work well. When I tried using the roller the previous time, I was seeing a lot of air bubbles so just used the brush instead which I put on too heavy and had a lot of runs, but that’s all taken care of now. After this last coat dries, I did notice a few minor air bubbles the size of pin holes, but all in all I’m pretty happy with the outcome as they are only noticeable because I was looking for them. Plus, I’m thinking the varnish coats should make it even less noticeable. Wishful thinking most likely : /

Today, I finally build my cradles and turned over the build for the first time. I would have liked to do this sooner, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to work on it for awhile and didn’t want the sides to cave in without the support of the station molds, so I left it on the mold stations until now.

Im hoping to get to sanding the inside this upcoming week. I did try to do a quick test spot on the inside sanding, and it looks like my ROS isn’t going to be the best way to go at it. I did just order some new card scraper and a smaller hand plane that should help a lot, but I’m assuming that most of this is going to be hand sanded. Obviously that flexicat or a conditioning roller would be perfect for the job, but they just seem abit pricey for a tool that won’t see much use.

Any “insider tips” or homemade tools that work well?

-Terry

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[Jim Dodd]

The inside is always a pain !

I've made home made scrapers, wrapped sand paper on chunks of Pool noodle. But honestly, I use a 5" ROS with a variable speed. I've purchased several over the years, and I really like the Bosch variable speed ROS. about $60.

Warning ! ROS will leave swirl marks, especially on the inside ! When you think you are done with a ROS, go back and hand sand with a Pool Noodle wrapped in sand paper ! Trust me on this !

Last tip ! Hook up a Shop Vac to your sander ! It will sand better, and help save your lungs !

Hull looks nice !

Good Luck Terry !

Jim

 

[dogbrain]

At first your picture looks like somebody got smashed by a canoe. I’ve resorted to using 60 grit on the RO sander in the flat areas, then wrapping some 60 grit around a pool noodle and go after the rest. It seems to go fast enough and isn’t that bad unless you have lots of dried glue blobs. I intend to buy some nice scrapers before my next build that will hopefully make that easier. Like Jim says, you could clean up any swirl marks with 80 grit.

Mark

 

[Jim Dodd]

Tumblehome adds to the frustration, sanding the interior, but I sure love a solo canoe with it !

Jim.

 

[stripperguy]

Wear a good mask to filter out the dust, a pair of goggles so you can see without filling your eyes and a pair of headphones to preserve your hearing
Dont worry about leaving swirl marks from sanding they will be obscured by the weave of the cloth that you DON’T add fill coats to
more resin will only make the inside more slippery under foot and heavier on your shoulders
it won’t be any stronger