"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.


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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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