Hey Pat
If your Fillets drip they aren't thickened enough. But, painters tape is a big help getting nice clean edges on fillets. Put tape on both sides at the line where the edges of your fillet will fall. I use tape sometimes but for the big fillets on my Dory I just went for it. Taping is pretty time consuming but if you are like Moonchaser you’ll probably want to do it. Pull off the tape Before the epoxy really sets up.

Filling the baggy is easier if you shove it in a container and wrap the open end around the container lip. I found slow hardener advantageous on the larger fillets because A) they take so much time and B) having a big blob-o-goo in the baggie concentrates the reaction heat and speeds up the “kick” time.

I wouldn’t consider a metal plate on my boat even for a second. I'm in the Chesapeake Bay and have oyster shells slashing at my boat. According to the scratches on my hull the high wear areas are the pointy end and 6” back from there. I layered on a second sheet of glass on that leading triangle. The skeg takes liberal abuse. Again I’ll refer to Moonchaser - you can do a search for that user name in the forum and look for a link to his Picasa album. He has a slick way of epoxying a sacrificial rope to the skeg. As for my approach, I just keep an eye on it and slather it with a mix of epoxy, Cab-O_Cil and graphite when it needs attention.

If you do have harsh beaching conditions consider coating the entire hull below the waterline with that mix of Cab-O-Cil and graphite. The epoxy book I read said it was UV stable and would not have to be painted. That will make it easy to keep touched up, wish I’d done that on my boat. Would like to hear from several folks here on how it holds up.

As Laszlo has noted, building one of these boats also informs you on how easy to repair they are.

Keep-a-pluggin’ Pat, you’re getting to the fun part!
ev

Hey Pat,

I'll second a lot of what Eric said.  I used West System 423 (before I worked for West Marine) for abrasion and UV resistance.  So far, after about 30 outings on a rocky beach, it's probably caused more damage to the rocks than it's taken.  Keep in mind there are various mixtures of epoxy, Cab-o-sil, and graphite, depending on the layer and your intended need.  If you search this forum for "graphite", you'll end up with an hour of great reading, especially from Laszlo.  Good luck!

Here is a link to the a site with pictures of the shore line this thing will live in. You can see how rocky it is.

http://www.bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=trip.report_view&sel_trp_id=2862

I think the aluminum idea is silly, I will look at adding a second layer of FG to the hull or one of the other options listed above. Thanks guys.

A couple things, both are ideas that are kudos to other builders:

1) Thanks to Eric for the comment on "my" rope techinque...actually I got the idea from Chuck at Duckworks, here is the article he recommended

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/howto/foiled/index.htm

And here is a link that points to the beginning of my build pics on this topic:  https://picasaweb.google.com/114717787929554738224/BuildingWoodenBoatCLCNortheasterDory?authkey=Gv1sRgCKCBzczm_aKs2wE&feat=directlink#6005537995650910242

2) On bottom abrasion, I agree the bottom/bow intersection and 12' back and 6" up is where I got 80% of my scratches...the trailer also caused some scratches.  I am doing OK with just layers of glass and epoxy because I was in a hurry but other builders swear by graphite in the resin, or a layer of kevlar instead of glass...which had I had more time I may have done...you may want to search this forum for kevlar also (and graphite)

Curt

Pat,

The two layers of glass cloth and epoxy under Interlux Brightsides have worket well when dragging my boat on and off pebbly beaches with shells. I'm not so sure how long that would hold up on rocks.

For abrasion resistance, Dynel fabric and epoxy are superior to carbon fiber and much easier to work with and less expensive than Kevlar. Covered with Interlux Perfection Two Part Polyurethane, it should be very durable.

Cheers,
Dick

   Second Dick's Dynel suggestion. It can be a pain to conform around corners and a little hard to feather into the glass. Hum, maybe that's why it's so effective. You'll probably only want it as a second layer on the first 6 to 12 inches at the bow. I had not the patience to fit it to the skeg.

Look in the "Righting a NE Dory" thread close to the top of forum page and follow the Duckworks link. That yellow fender/flotation/beach roller might be just the ticket for your Beautiful rocky shores.

   After using my Dory for a month on Barnegat Bay in NJ I have worn thru the bow on only 3-4 groundings. On the initial build I used a second layer of Dynel with 3 additional coats of epoxy on the stem and first 6" of the flat bottom. I only ground thru a 1/4" wide X 2 " long area, but I was rreally surprised at how only a few slides ate thru the products. I caught it before it went to wood so after an easy fix with thickened epoxy and touch up paint it is OK. I bought a strip of 3/8 brass to screw on but have not done so yet. I am being more careful about sliding into and out of the water and lifting the boat more. I also used graphite epoxy as the final coat for the flat bottom, that ground away as well. Other than that area, the graphite is holding up well. I also put a strip of stainless along the entire keel skeg. I'm really glad I did that. Good luck and enjoy the build. Dan