Hey all,
I just started my first ever boat - a Chespeake 16. I cut and glued the scarfs today - I finished at 8:20pm. I used West Marine epoxy, with the 207 hardner, and it's been mid or upper 80s here in Pittsburgh, and my shop is hot. It won't get much cooler overnight - not under 70 for sure.
So, can I unclamp, layout, and cut my panels tomorrow morning, at say 8 or 9? And should I wait until the evening to begin stitching, or can I begin it even earlier? Obviously I don't want to risk breaking those scarfs, but I don't have a whole lot going on right now, and I would like to just hammer away at the boat. Thanks,
Spruce
If the epoxy is rock hard, you're good to go....if not, wait. I find that the most convenient way to determine whether that is the case is to inspect the cup I mixed the epoxy in... there always seems to be a little bit left in there, no matter how closely I matched the amount I mixed up to the job at hand.....so instead of throwing out the cup right away when I'm done applying epoxy, I set it down by the boat.... which seems to be a much better plan than potentially prematurely unclamping joints, or risking messing up a nice fillet by touching it to see if it is hard.....
Julie K
Cool - I did the same thing with the cup. I'm pretty sure it'll be rock hard when I go in there today - it was pretty hard before I even left. Might be some fun epoxying later on, considering how fast it kicks at this temp,
Spruce