A while back i asked about if it is okay to put fibreglass below the
waterline of my 28 foot mahogany lapstraked carver mariner.
Overwhelmingly the response was NO.

heres my next question,
Would just using epoxy to coat all wood surfaces of the hull be okay?
or does anyone see anything wrong with it? i need the quickest,
easiest way to make this boat waterproof so i can get a month out of
it this year at least. it has already been sanded down, just waiting
for my next move.

any help is appreciated.
thanks,
-Jason

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 02:58:19 +0000, Jason wrote:

A while back i asked about if it is okay to put fibreglass below the
waterline of my 28 foot mahogany lapstraked carver mariner.
Overwhelmingly the response was NO.

heres my next question,
Would just using epoxy to coat all wood surfaces of the hull be okay?
or does anyone see anything wrong with it? i need the quickest,
easiest way to make this boat waterproof so i can get a month out of
it this year at least. it has already been sanded down, just waiting
for my next move.

any help is appreciated.
thanks,
-Jason

The thing about adding a light glass cloth to the epoxy is not strength
but to get an indicator telling you how much epoxy you have applied.
Wetting out the glass will ensure you got a certain minimum epoxy
thickness everywhere. This is much, much harder to achieve without
the glass.

--
================================================== ==================
Martin Schöön * * * * * * * * * *"Problems worthy of attack
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * prove their worth by hitting back"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Piet Hein
================================================== ==================

=?iso-8859-1?q?Martin_Sch=F6=F6n?= ) writes:
On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 02:58:19 +0000, Jason wrote:

A while back i asked about if it is okay to put fibreglass below the
waterline of my 28 foot mahogany lapstraked carver mariner.
Overwhelmingly the response was NO.

heres my next question,
Would just using epoxy to coat all wood surfaces of the hull be okay?

I missed the earlier discussion, but why would you want to coat all the
wood surface?

I assume the previous replies recommended against it because of the lapped
strakes making it too difficult to lay the cloth on the hull.

I think all you really need to worry about is sealing the seam where the
planks overlap and that I assume can be done do with a flexible sealant
and a caulking gun. The wood will flex both from the motion of the boat
and the swelling with moisture. Epoxy might work. I have both epoxy and
polyester sealing seams on my boats but then they are very small so don't
flex, are plywood which is more stable, and are out of teh water when not
in use. You might get away with sealing the seams with epoxy. I spread a
small bead along the seam with a toothpick and do it twice. Then paint or
varnish or whatever. The potential problem with epoxy is that it dries
hard and can crack instead of flex.

Sorry I don't have the definitive answer.

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Martin Schöön wrote:

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 02:58:19 +0000, Jason wrote:

A while back i asked about if it is okay to put fibreglass below the
waterline of my 28 foot mahogany lapstraked carver mariner.
Overwhelmingly the response was NO.

heres my next question,
Would just using epoxy to coat all wood surfaces of the hull be okay?
or does anyone see anything wrong with it? i need the quickest,
easiest way to make this boat waterproof so i can get a month out of
it this year at least. it has already been sanded down, just waiting
for my next move.


-------------------------------

Use a flexible epoxy paint and not the clear brittle epoxies used for
laminating and repairing etc. That will seal and waterproof but still allow
all kinds of movement of the wood as the uncoated sections expand,
contract, swell, etc. Such epoxies are generally pigmented so you could
paint and be back in the water in 24 hours or so. Come fall paint over the
'epoxy primer' with whatever you like.

I'm just finishing up the restoration of a rotting 1/4 inch plywood dinghy
in this manner - Even with epoxy inside and out, the plywood still has the
flex it originally did (in the non rotted or repaired spots - cleaning the
boat with a modest water blaster literally shot a 5 inch by 5 inch hole in
the bottom and a few smaller holes too!)


paul oman
progressive epoxy polymers


"Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include
a free trip around the Sun every year."
---------------

Bearing in mind that opinions here are sometimes worth about what you
pay for them, for my .02 cents I would encourage you to fill the seams
with a polysulfide caulking like BoatLife or SikaFlex. These products
come in standard cartridges and can be applied with a standard caulking
gun, although in a similar situation I chose to invest in an air driven
caulking gun, because I already owned a compressor and figured my hand
might fall off after i squeezed out 2,700 lineal feet of seams.

These products are made for seams, and they will stay more or less where
you place them, ie since your boat is too big to turn over, you are un
the position of having to force a semi liquid like epoxy mixed with a
filler up hill in order to get it into your seams. The polysulfide on
the other hand is mixed to s consistency, and is sticky enough that you
can work from underneath it without ending up wearing it.

You can get cartridges to fill with epoxy, and you can get slow curing
hardeners, but I still think it would be easier to use a different
product like BoatLife.

If you have some *small* areas of rot, you can solidify them with epoxy
sometimes. You need to drill some holes in the wood, use the plastic
syringes and later heat the area with a heat gun which helps thin the
epoxy a little and drive it deeper into the wood. You can find more
information on that process at www.westsystem.com

Good luck.

Jonathan


Jason wrote:
A while back i asked about if it is okay to put fibreglass below the
waterline of my 28 foot mahogany lapstraked carver mariner.
Overwhelmingly the response was NO.

heres my next question,
Would just using epoxy to coat all wood surfaces of the hull be okay?
or does anyone see anything wrong with it? i need the quickest,
easiest way to make this boat waterproof so i can get a month out of
it this year at least. it has already been sanded down, just waiting
for my next move.

any help is appreciated.
thanks,
-Jason

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 02:58:19 GMT, Jason wrote:

A while back i asked about if it is okay to put fibreglass below the
waterline of my 28 foot mahogany lapstraked carver mariner.
Overwhelmingly the response was NO.

heres my next question,
Would just using epoxy to coat all wood surfaces of the hull be okay?
or does anyone see anything wrong with it? i need the quickest,
easiest way to make this boat waterproof so i can get a month out of
it this year at least. it has already been sanded down, just waiting
for my next move.

Why would putting epoxy on the the wood make the boat watertight?
Leaks orginate in _joints_ in wood not the wood itself.

Are you sure the boat will not tighten up in the water? Most will.
Water sprayed inside the boat will hurry things along.

P.C. Ford ) writes:

Are you sure the boat will not tighten up in the water? Most will.
Water sprayed inside the boat will hurry things along.

I think the boat under discussion is plywood lapstrake. I realize the
builder of such a boat should be branded and put in stocks in the town
square but I'm not sure that plywood will swell up tight like honest to
goodness real wood. I could be wrong.



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You know where we can find this flexible epoxy paint? i live in
Ontario.

Does the epoxy paint seal the seams where two planks overlap as well?
or do i have to caulk with silicone stuff as well?
please reply, im itchin to get on the water.
thanks
-Jay



Use a flexible epoxy paint and not the clear brittle epoxies used for
laminating and repairing etc. That will seal and waterproof but still allow
all kinds of movement of the wood as the uncoated sections expand,
contract, swell, etc. Such epoxies are generally pigmented so you could
paint and be back in the water in 24 hours or so. Come fall paint over the
'epoxy primer' with whatever you like.

I'm just finishing up the restoration of a rotting 1/4 inch plywood dinghy
in this manner - Even with epoxy inside and out, the plywood still has the
flex it originally did (in the non rotted or repaired spots - cleaning the
boat with a modest water blaster literally shot a 5 inch by 5 inch hole in
the bottom and a few smaller holes too!)


paul oman
progressive epoxy polymers


"Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include
a free trip around the Sun every year."
---------------

Jason ) writes:

or do i have to caulk with silicone stuff as well?

I've been advised not to use silicone on wooden boats because nothing else
will stick to it. For example, if the silicone doesn't do the job nothing
else will stick to the wood thereafter.

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If you use silicon I don't think any paint will ever stick to it. I've
used sikaflex for seam sealing on aluminum aircraft floats and it
works very well. It'll be messy but lay a thin bead along the joint
then force it in with a plastic squeege and scrape off the excess.
You'd be able to paint the next day. I found 2 places in London Ont
that sell it.

You know where we can find this flexible epoxy paint? i live in
Ontario.

Does the epoxy paint seal the seams where two planks overlap as well?
or do i have to caulk with silicone stuff as well?
please reply, im itchin to get on the water.
thanks
-Jay



Use a flexible epoxy paint and not the clear brittle epoxies used for
laminating and repairing etc. That will seal and waterproof but still allow
all kinds of movement of the wood as the uncoated sections expand,
contract, swell, etc. Such epoxies are generally pigmented so you could
paint and be back in the water in 24 hours or so. Come fall paint over the
'epoxy primer' with whatever you like.

I'm just finishing up the restoration of a rotting 1/4 inch plywood dinghy
in this manner - Even with epoxy inside and out, the plywood still has the
flex it originally did (in the non rotted or repaired spots - cleaning the
boat with a modest water blaster literally shot a 5 inch by 5 inch hole in
the bottom and a few smaller holes too!)


paul oman
progressive epoxy polymers


"Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include
a free trip around the Sun every year."
---------------