Day 8 - Epoxy & Puddy

Yesterday I was able to work on the boat some more. This wasn't exactly my first experience with epoxy, however it was my first experience with this much epoxy! I started by mixing up 8 oz. of resin with the reactor (14 drops per 1 oz. of resin). This turned out to be slightly more than I could apply before it started hardening so I cut the next batch down to 4 oz. I used a cheep $.69 brush that I found a Lowes to apply the epoxy to the panels.

I saturated a 5 or 6 inch swath of wood (with the epoxy) along the boat seams. This will make this area very sturdy and water-tight, and will give the fiberglass something to stick to. I completed all of the interior seams and then decided to start filling in the cracks with puddy. The plans recommended making an epoxy based puddy with the resin and sawdust. So I mixed up a batch (this time using a full 8 oz. of resin). Once I had a good doughy consistancy I started pressing it into the seams, trying to cover the zip-tie locks which are on the inside of the boat.

I also decided to start filling in the holes on the outside of the boat with store bought wood puddy. This will make the final fiberglass seam smoother...

Since the fumes were starting to get to me and I was waiting for a phone call, I decided to stop for the evening. I checked back a couple hours later and my homemade epoxy puddy was rock hard and fairly rough. I'm not sure how smoothly the fiberglass will go over this puddy. I should probably try to 'glass' over puddy that is still somewhat plyable... Maybe I can sand down the hardened seams before I glass them? I guess we'll find out in our next post! :)


~E