"Freddie Richard" ) writes:
What would you use instead of epoxy? or what would you recommend?

on my small plywood boats I painted the exterior and used linseed oil on
the interior. those boats are fastened with screwed and glued chine
battens. its much cheaper to build that way. epoxy is too damned expensive
and is not needed on small plywood boats in my opinion. besides you can't
buy a 55 gal drum of epoxy to get a lower price if you're just building a
kayak. waste of money. there are photos of my boats on my website. if you
do use epoxy you have to also use fibreglass cloth. on big boats they
recommend three layers of cloth and resin to "encapsulate" the boat. I've
seen a single layer of cloth and epoxy resin on a kayak which didn't do
much good at all.


--
Thank You,
Freddie L. Richard


"William R. Watt" wrote in message
...
The owner of an epoxy sheathed plywood (okume marine) kayak was showing me
today the deterioration in the surface ply on the inside of the hull. The
builder had let the boat sit outside over the winter mistakenly assuming
epoxy was impervious to H2O. Snow accumulated in the cockpit, melted,
froze, melted again, and by late spring there was 6" of melt water inside
the hull. The epoxy sheathing on the inside of the hull did not stop the
water from getting at the plywood and starting rot. Accept the claims of
epoxy purveyors and promoters at your peril.
--
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William R. Watt ) writes:

.. if you
do use epoxy you have to also use fibreglass cloth. on big boats they
recommend three layers of cloth and resin to "encapsulate" the boat. I've
seen a single layer of cloth and epoxy resin on a kayak which didn't do
much good at all.

I should add that once you get three layers of glass and epoxy on a
plywood kayak you've got yourself a very heavy kayak. I'd just go with the
plywood. However if you're building to someone else's design and it says
use epoxy then you should use it. Make sure the finished weigth of the
kayak is clearly stated in the plans.


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William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
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Correct. That post probably came from somebody who is prejudiced against
modern materials.
If an epoxy boat is left out unpainted for years, the UV's will break down
and problems will start.

Do you know that those Abram's M1 tanks are very weak and unsafe? I heard
that one was destroyed last week.

See where those generalizations lead us?

--
Jacques
http://www.bateau.com

"Brian Nystrom" wrote in message
...
"William R. Watt" wrote in message
...

The owner of an epoxy sheathed plywood (okume marine) kayak was showing
me
today the deterioration in the surface ply on the inside of the hull.
The
builder had let the boat sit outside over the winter mistakenly
assuming
epoxy was impervious to H2O. Snow accumulated in the cockpit, melted,
froze, melted again, and by late spring there was 6" of melt water
inside
the hull. The epoxy sheathing on the inside of the hull did not stop
the
water from getting at the plywood and starting rot. Accept the claims
of
epoxy purveyors and promoters at your peril.

How about a few more details? How was the hull sealed? Was it simply a
thin epoxy sealer coat or was the inside glassed as well? It makes a huge
difference in permeability. Was the epoxy damaged (cracked) by the
freeze-thaw cycles?

Let's also remember a couple other points:

- A coat of varnish or paint over the epoxy would have eliminated the
problem.

- Simply covering or inverting the boat to prevent water accumulation
would have prevented the problem.

The issue here is not any deficiency of the epoxy, but rather a deficiency
on the part of the builder.

--
Regards

Brian

If you consider how many boats have been coated with epoxy, and how many
complaints of failure that you hear about, I'd say you have a very good
chance that epoxy will work as advertised. In fact, failure due to water
absorption is so rare, I'd lean towards blaming the builder/epoxy coater
rather than the epoxy.

Brian


"Backyard Renegade" wrote in message
om...
"Freddie Richard" wrote in message
...
What would you use instead of epoxy? or what would you recommend?

Nothing! The brunt of this discussion is that Epoxy is not a miracle
cure all, it is however probably the best the average builder has
available. The point is that Epoxy can be part of a process that will
control water movement, but it is a team effort and it takes paint,
fiberglass, proper preperation, proper application, some effort and
thought of the builder, and of course dillagence (sp?) on the part of
the owner.
Scotty from SmallBoats.com

--
Thank You,
Freddie L. Richard


"William R. Watt" wrote in message
...
The owner of an epoxy sheathed plywood (okume marine) kayak was
showing me
today the deterioration in the surface ply on the inside of the hull.
The
builder had let the boat sit outside over the winter mistakenly
assuming
epoxy was impervious to H2O. Snow accumulated in the cockpit, melted,
froze, melted again, and by late spring there was 6" of melt water
inside
the hull. The epoxy sheathing on the inside of the hull did not stop
the
water from getting at the plywood and starting rot. Accept the claims
of
epoxy purveyors and promoters at your peril.
--

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William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community
network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-freenet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's
returned

The point is that Epoxy can be part of a process that will
control water movement, but it is a team effort and it takes paint,
fiberglass, proper preperation, proper application, some effort and
thought of the builder,

And proper storage of the final product doesn't hurt either ).
Greg Sefton