Hi Dave, 

don't burn it.  while a bit of work, epoxy can be 'undone'.

what you are going to need is a heatgun and a metal putty knife.  for the heatgun something like this that is adjustable:  https://www.ryobitools.com/power-tools/products/details/11-amp-variable-temperature-heat-gun     for the putty knife,  something like this with a metal blade and a wood handle. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Warner-3-in-Full-Flex-Putty-Knife-with-Rosewood-Handle-27230/205053749

epoxy when heated becomes soft, and then you will use the putty knife to then seperate the pieces.

your challenge wil be to play with the temperature of the heatgun to get it hot enough to soften the epoxy but not so hot that you burn the wood.  this will just take a bit of patience, but i assure you it has been done because you are not the first person to make this mistake:)

fwiw, this activity is going to have to make the wood hot in order to get the epoxy hot and kitchen mits may be useful in this process.  becuase the sheer clamp is thick, it will take a while for the heat to seep through to the epoxy and then for the epoxy to get hot enough to soften.  you can also heat the putty knife blade to help you during the process.

anyway, it can be done....but it will be a bit of a chore....so relax....it may take a couple sessions to seperate the entire length.

let us know how it goes.

h

Howard is absolutely right, the method he describes works well for an epoxied clamp and if it's important to save the wood pieces. But, in the event that you have used a glue other than epoxy or have so much sheer clamp material that you can replace the old clamp with a new piece, the clamp can be carefully cut down with a saw and the remainder removed with a plane, sander, etc.

Again, if you built from a kit according to the manual, Howard's method is the way to go, but mechanical removal is also an option.

Good luck,

Laszlo

   Good advice above from Howard and Lazlo.  The oly thing that I will add is that paint is your friend if you end up with a bit of cosmetic damage to the plywood.

I will also add that you are not the first to make a mistake like this.  I have a friend, lets call hime Nark M, that clued the side panels togethetr incorrectly on his first build.  The next day he separated them with a heat gun no problems and the boat came out just fine.

just a note to also endorse Laszlos approach as well.   if you have a good saw that you can line up with the okoume, like this japanese saw  which has no supporting structure on the blade, that could do the job as well and may be faster/easier to set up than the heat gun.  https://www.clcboats.com/shop/products/boat-building-supplies-epoxy-fiberglass-plywood/japanese-saw.html  

the important thing is to line it up to not cut into the okoume and only into the sheerclamp wood.  the kerf is thin enough that for a sheerclamp, you could still re-use the piece...it would still be plenty wide.   

the challenge, as mentioned, on the heat gun approach is the epoxy is sitting under the thick sheerclamp....so will take a bit of work to warm up everything to get the eppxy soft enough.   hard to know without some experimentation.  the saw approach is likely to make quick work of this if you can control the blade properly.

h

   Would it be easier to heat from the okume side as it's thinner than the shearclamp?

it may be, it's always a bit of an experiment,

i think it will be a combination of heat application and how to use your putty knife.  when the epoxy gets hot it becomes sort of chewing gum consistency and you need to simultaneuously begin to work to seperate the piece.   

becuase the sheer clamp is a long piece, you will not be able to heat the entire piece before working to seperate them.

i am thinking you would start from one end, heat and ift it slightly with the putty knife....then insert a piece of wax paper between the little lifted section to prevent them from 'reattaching' as they cool...and then move on down.....doing a foot at a time.

i have also found that when you do this work, you can use the blade of the putty knife as a hot element (hence why you want one with a metal blade and a wood handle).

anyway, as mentioned, you will have to experiment a bit but once you sort it out, it will probably go relatively quick.

the advantage of laszlo's idea to use a saw blade avoids all of this...but a sawblade is going to happily cut into your okoume if it is not controlled properly.  

h

  Thanks all for your help. As I do not have a heat gun, I will rely on manual labor - a good saw, plane and sander.   .

   Heat guns are cheap and suprisingly useful.

$15 at Harbor freight.Less if you use a coupon

I used mine to strip the varnish and epoxy on my Passagemaker restoration, and stripping varnish on my sailboat

It's the people that have done lots of epoxy work that jump on threads like this - it's like we've all screwed something up before and had to fix it...

Another tool that can be useful for undoing epoxy is a gallon ziplok bag about half full of water. Microwave it until it nearly boils, and set it on the part that you need to soften.

The epoxies we use begin to soften around 150F, so boiling water is a safe heat source to avoid scorching the wood or huffing burining epoxy fumes.

For a shear clamp, I picture two or more bags used in rotation, one sitting on the part warming the wood, the other in the microwave getting re-heated, repeating down the length of the boat. I bet it goes almost as fast as the heat gun...

   Well - I cut, planed and sanded off the shear clamp. Made up a new one and glued it on the correct side this time. Minimal amount of damage to the panel. I should be able to paint on a 1-2" stripe along the seam between the side and deck .

Had I followed the manual and glued the shear clamps on both sides at the same time, this would not have happened, but a second pair of hands was not available.

   I'm a bit late to the party, but I do want to mention that a heat gun is unnecessary. I've softened and removed epoxy with an ordinary blow drier set to high.

Congratulations!

the more experienced, wiser boatbuilders/furniture makers will tell you that the mark of a great craftsman is their ability to recover from the invitable errors....

welcome to your first step in the path to being a great builder!

h