Chesapeake 17lt hull puzzle piece misalignment

�So recently while gluing together my hull "puzzle" pieces I had one section come out uneven so much so that I'm afraid if I try to sand it smooth I'll same the higher section down past the vaneer trying to get it even. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can remedy this? Thanks in advance.

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RE: Chesapeake 17lt hull puzzle piece misalignment

1. Hit it with a blow dryer or heat gun, get it up to where the epoxy softens (should be well below 150 degress F) pop the joint apart and reglue it.

or

2. Sand it, fill in the gap with epoxy/woodflour putty and paint over where you went through the veneer.

Obviously you don't want to do #2 with a varnished finish.

Good luck,

Laszlo

 

RE: Chesapeake 17lt hull puzzle piece misalignment

New Guy,

i second laszlo's suggestion for the hair dryer or heat gun.  while i have not used a hair dryer, several years ago i bought an inexpensive variable adjustment heat gun and it has proven an invaluable tool in both stitch and glue as well as strip-built projects.

very easy to heat, soften epoxy and reset pieces.

as an interesting example...i was given all the parts to shearwater 17 that had been improperly glued up.  a couple hours with the heat gun and i had it all back to it's bare parts and then was able to re-assemble.

in the stick built world the heat gun helps with regular glue as well as epoxy in undoing mistakes as well as heating up strips to make them more bendy....

definitely a tool i would have in my boat-building aresenal

all the best

h

RE: Chesapeake 17lt hull puzzle piece misalignment

   I've had the very same problem with one of the bottom panels on my Shearwater Sport Sectional. The thing is, I knew about the hair dryer / heat pump trick, but in my haste to fix the problem I started sanding. Now I can't go back, so I've followed Laszlo's option 2.

I mixed up a very small batch of epoxy (one pump from each jug) and then started mixing in tiny portions of wood flour and cell-o-fill until I got a thin peanut butter mix where the color seemed likely to match the Okoume.

I carefully painted this goop into the depressed areas. Now they are a bit above the level of the rest and can be sanded down later.

I'm hopeful the color will match fairly well since I'm going to varnish the whole boat and use it as living room furniture during storage.

I'll eventually post a picture of the final result, but here is how the patch looks right now:

RE: Chesapeake 17lt hull puzzle piece misalignment

   Here is the puzzle joint after a bit of sanding. The patch looks like it will blend in quite well.

RE: Chesapeake 17lt hull puzzle piece misalignment

   Thanks for all the input and great ideas on how to fix the issue. I plan on varnishing the entire boat so painting really wasn't an option. 

After speaking to the fine people at CLC and getting their input, i've decided to just sand a little now and after the inner hull is glassed and filled i'm going to fill in the lower areas of the puzzle pieces with straight epoxy and go over it with a flat surface (a credit card was recommended) then it should blend in just fine when i do the final sanding before glassing the outer hull.

Fingers crossed...and again thanks for all the help and quick responses.

 

John (newguy)

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