Re: End Damn disaster

Posted by Roby Golden on Jun 6, 2005

Sorry about your "dam break" disaster. Yep, it is kinda ugly at that. There are some things you can do to clean it up and then, on your next boat, try step 2:

1. To clean up the dam spill, use a cabinet scraper to clean up the mess on the sides & hull. It works quicker, cleaner, and smoother than anything I can think of to resolve the matter. Scrape only down to the level of the rest of the surrounding wood. Then, when you cover it in 'glass and epoxy, you should not notice the damage much, if at all. If you simply paint the hull, even so much more of a clean finish.

2. To eliminate this problem in the future, you may want to try this: instead of filling in the hull ends with epoxy, try conducting a fillet in the gap, as you did in the rest of the seams. Then, set up your dam (you can make it a large or small as you want) and then fill in the dam void with foam in a can. Yep, the same stuff that we in the construction world use to fill in voids for insulation. Just make sure that you only fill it up about half way from the bottom...the stuff expands like crazy. you will find that it is easy to cut off with a hacksaw blade. Once you apply the deck, you will still be able to bore an oversized hole in the hull ends for the end handles. Simply seal one side of the hull with a good sealing tape, turn the boat on its side and adjust the end to balance the fill, and fill it with clear or thickened epoxy. Once dry, you can then re-bore a smaller hole for the handle rope. Ta-daa. Done. Limited muss & fuss. You will also have boyancy in the ends rather than the large rock that epoxy provides. Saves weight, time, money, and frustration.

In Response to: Re: End Damn disaster by FrankP on Jun 6, 2005

Replies:

• Re: End Damn disaster by Laszlo on Jun 6, 2005