mistake: puzzle joints not flat

First build, and I am not a woodworker (that's an understatement).  Taking the first steps on a Wood Duckling 8, I managed to get the puzzle joints glassed and epoxied, but I didn't weight them and they are not flat.  How big a problem is this going to be, and how should I try to address it?  Do I need to get them apart and start over, or can I make it work moving forward?  


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RE: mistake: puzzle joints not flat

Mine weren't perfectly flat either, but it worked out OK.  They really shouldn't be more than about 1 mm off or you'd have to do enough sanding that you'd get close to sanding through the veneer layer of the ply.  You can heat up the joint to make the epoxy soft and then readjust it.

RE: mistake: puzzle joints not flat

If the joint's going to be painted or otherwise covered, just fill in the low spots with epoxy/woodflour putty and sand it smooth. Ditto if you're varnishing but don't care about some patchy coloration around the joint.

Otherwise, do what Hickory says.

Either way, it'll be a fun boat to paddle.

Laszlo

 

RE: mistake: puzzle joints not flat

I was told by John Harris to heat and re-adjust and it worked very well.  You can use a hair dryer, but a heat gun is much faster. 

The problem I had was that I used 2x6's with screws at the ends to clamp the puzzle joints, but I applied so much pressure that the clamping boards bowed up slightly in the middle. My solution for the future is to put shims of the same thickness as the plywood outside the screws on each end of the 2x6's.  This should keep them from bowing.  A heavy weight in the middle would help also.

 

 

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