Filler required for Tenderly

�Hi all, Building a Tenderly from plans and I'm looking to order my epoxy and fillers so I can get started on gluing the frames. I'm a little confused as to the requirements of fillers for this boat. The kit comes with epoxy bundle #3, which has a photo of three tubs of wood flour, and one tub of cell-o-fill. The written description says two gallons of each. The plan book says three pounds of flour, one pound of cell-o-fill. It's sold by the gallon anywhere I've looked. I'd rather not buy more than I need, and there's apparently some conflicting sources,so does anyone know how much of each is actually required? Thanks, Daniel

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RE: Filler required for Tenderly

���While I'm here, the plan book also says I need 6x200' of copper wire. Is that accurate? Haven't built a stitch and glue boat before but that seems like a lot.

RE: Filler required for Tenderly

I always seem to use more epoxy products than suggested when building.  You don't want to buy more than you need, but you can buy in smaller containers which will be proportionately more expensive.

As for the copper wire, if you take 200' divide it by an 8" stitch, that's only 300 stitches, which seems about right.  You may get by with 6" stitches, but if you have to wrestle with each one, it's not worth the penny apiece.  I use stainless seizing wire.

RE: Filler required for Tenderly

   My concern isn't so much with getting away with purchasing less, it's that there are three conflicting sources for how much I need, and I'm just trying to get it straight. 

I called customer service to confirm, and the lady there told me that there was a gallon of each (cell-o-fill and flour), despite the photo and the written plans.

For the copper wire, 200' seems reasonable, but the books says 6x200' - that's about nine pounds of copper. The CLC store sells 25' lengths of copper, and so I figured it must mean 6x25', but then the customer service lady told me it was 6x25 YARDS. So I now have three conflicting quantities for the wire, too.

Anyway, it doesn't seem like I'm going to get a straight answer out of CLC at this point. Seems like I'm going to have to second guess the build plans from now on, probably just going to mean buying smaller quantities multiple times

 

RE: Filler required for Tenderly

Hmmm.  I wouldn't worry so much about what the photo shows as that may just be the marketing department's one-size-fits-all photo for any kit.

For my 12' Passagemaker, I put a dent in one large tub of the silica.  This was only for gluing the laps together and a few laminations.  For all else, I used two large tubs of wood flour.  This included tabbing in the bulkheads, interior seams all fillets and most of the laminations.

Is the 6x200 designation a gauge thickness (i.e. #6)?  I'm not familiar with copper wire sizing.  With 1200' of copper you could weave your own rub rail.

If you're planning on finishing anything bright, you'll definitely want to lean toward more wood flour than silica.  If you have a source conveniently located or shipping is marginal, I would probably start with the 2:1 large format tubs of wood to silica and then you'll be able to gauge how much more you'll need to finish.  

With that being said, I've ended up with left-overs after both boats which only encourages my next-boat-itis.  Hope this helps.  Good luck with your build.  Love me some Tenderly.

RE: Filler required for Tenderly

No idea where that 6x200’ designation comes from, but trying to use #6 bare copper wire will end in disaster for stitch & glue with the ply thicknesses we use.

#18 was quoted to me by CLC staff when I inquired about what they provide; what I got with my Waterlust kit looks like the #18 gauge where I work at a TrueValue part-time.

#18 measures 0.0403” in dia., #6 is 0.1620”, not quite as thick as 4mm ply.

RE: Filler required for Tenderly

   Yeah, absolutely, 18 gauge (that's actually 18 American Wire Gauge or AWG...there's a bunch of confusing gauges...) is what you need.  The copper is easier to work with than SS, cheaper, and easier on snips.  I snapped a few when twisting, but if you are twisting that tightly and not getting things together, then you need some other adjustments.  The price CLC has for their rolls is reasonable.  I think each must be something like 25 yards.  I used nearly all mine in my Skerry kit.

RE: Filler required for Tenderly

   Thanks, CaptainSkully that definitely gives me a baseline.

The Tenderly book indicates in the list of materials 200' rolls of 18 gauge copper wire, quantity - 6. By my math that's 1200'.

Obvously a typo and I'll just have to get a few rolls and see how far I get.

RE: Filler required for Tenderly

My best guess is the manual’s editor maybe overlooked an extra ‘0’ tacked onto what should have read 6 x 20’ ? That’d be 120’ in all, kinda mucho but then maybe not if 3” pieces for every twist-up....

RE: Filler required for Tenderly

Hi, Dannogranno

This discrepancy on the fillers threw me off too (read: irritated me). The two fillers that came with my Tenderly kit were the same as in the description: two tubs of wood flour and two tubs of cell-o-fill. In actuality, to finish my boat I needed what's in the picture: three tubs of wood flour and one tub of cell-o-fill. I ran out of wood flour and ended up using quite a bit of wood flour from my belt sander, some intentionally generated from scrap wood for the purpose. I have a full tub of cell-o I didn't need. 

As to the copper wire: I used exactly what came with the kit: A total of about 200 feet, in six 25-foot rolls. My ties were about 4 inches each in length.

Hope that helps with regard to actual usage. 

Barbara

 

 

RE: Filler required for Tenderly

   Thanks Barbara, that sounds reasonable. I ended up buying two quarts of cell-o-fill and based on what I've used so far with the frames I doubt I'll get through half of one.

 

I also bought two tubs of wood flour and 150' of wire so I'll see if I end up needing more.

 

Daniel

 

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