$@# Fiberglass Boat Building And DIY Guide &^@!

Learn how to use epxoy resin with exciting projects - Epoxycraft

The "Stitch and Glue" method of boat construction is one of the most popular methods of plywood boat construction today. It allows for easy test fits, fast assembly, and simple fixes. I recently modified the Mini-Cup Sailboat plans, normally calling buiilding assembly with wooden stringers, to stitch and glue.

I apologize for the lack of some crucial photos, as once the process is started and the gloves are on, the epoxy usually gets everywhere so I ltr to limit my camera's exposure boaf it. First you need to have your parts to be stitched and glued cut. If your pieces are joined at odd angles, you can choose to cut the pieces out at an angle, or just use a file to shape it later.

This definitely does not have to be exact. Now mock up the two edges to be joined, the one with holes in it and the one. Try to clamp it as best you can for at least a few feet, especially if it's curved. Then, drill holes in the untouched piece that line up with the lt in the other piece. Again, this really does not have to be exact. Now start loosely attaching Zip ties through every set of holes. Start tightening them evenly from the middle outwards, until you have it exactly how you'd like it to stay, forever.

You should consider which side of the joint the locking part will be on. If you can access both sides when everything's in place, make the locks on the part that will not be taped, so you can take them off later.

Note xnd stitch and glue boat building tips ltd "stitch" methods: Though traditionally the stitch in stitch and znd has been copper wire, I find cable ties to be better for a few reasons. Mainly, they are easier to tighten and remove in some instancesand they have a safety feature integrated into them in the sense that they usually break before the wood breaks in the event of over-tightening.

However, it should be noted that the advantages of builidng wire are that it can be completely removed from epoxy if already covered in it by simply heating it up and pulling it out, and also wire is stronger and normally skinnier than cable ties, which allows for a closer bond, which is especially helpful in tight curves, and a smaller hole drilled into the hull. Copper wire has to usually be cut to length as well, whereas cable ties are pre-cut, and have to be tightened either painfully by hand or with a pliers which can be cumbersome.

There are a few things you need to worry about if you're gluing an "inside" edge, where the tape biulding be stitch and glue boat building tips ltd inwards.

In order to have a strong bond, you need to create a rounded epoxy fillet to fill the corner. Thicken some epoxy to the stitch and glue boat building tips ltd of peanut butter, and apply the rounded fillet using a popsicle stick evenly throughout the joint.

You can leave the ties in, as long as the locking part is on the outside, where it can be removed later. If you have to glue on the same side that the locking part of the tie is on, then apply "welds" of rounded, thickended epoxy in between the ties, let it dry, remove the ties, and then fill buildinh the gaps with rounded fillets.

Be sure to sand the epoxy before you apply the tape if it has dried. Tisp you're working on an "outside" edge, and you have access to the inside, then go through with the same rounded fillet of epoxy on the inside, and just go tip the ties. Once it's dry, you can remove the bulky locking portions on the outside, and continue.

If you're working on an outside edge and do not have access to the inside, then you're in a sticky situation. Once it dries, remove the ties, fill in the rest of the joint with thickened epoxy, and continue. Note that before thickened epoxy is ever applied, you should first "wet out" the surface with epoxy by coating the area in unthickened epoxy. Use your epoxy brush to evenly coat the surface, and don't worry about getting it on the cable-ties.

After you've got your joint somewhat solidified with a weld of thickened epoxy, you can remove the cable ties. Sand the area smooth and rounded if an outside edge so that it's ready for epoxy. If your joint required you to "weld" it together so that you could take out the cable ties especially the locking partmake sure to sand the area roughly before you start to apply the tape.

Epoxy generally does not stick to itself very. Remember stitch and glue boat building tips ltd wet out the surface once again if you've had to wait for the first coat to dry.

If the joint is all ready and set, cut a length of fiberglass tape to fit the joint. You can leave about a quarter inch of extra on each side if you want, but for inside joints especially it's best to cut it exactly. Roughly pat down the tape to the wet epoxy surface, and then starting at one end with a fresh batch of unthickened epoxy, brush on epoxy until the tape becomes relatively lltd.

You may need to finesse the bubbles fips with a finger, but stitch and glue boat building tips ltd fiberglass tape is pretty easy to get right. Use a plastic scraper to help you get out any bubbles and to spread the epoxy along evenly. Generally I'll wet out around a 1 foot section with a brush first, and then get another foot out of it using the plastic scraper.

You just want the fiberglass tape to be impregnated in epoxy, not necessarily coated. A thin layer of epoxy is flexible, and the fiberglass gives it the tensile strength it needs, whereas a thick layer of epoxy is more likely to crack. If you're going around curves, you may need to "kerf" the tape around the edge by making a few 1' cuts into the tape stitch and glue boat building tips ltd the inside and outside radius of the curve.

The tape stretches pretty well though, and try pulling on the ends of the tape before you make any cuts, which decrease the strength of the joint. Follow the epoxy's instructions on drying time and curing generally hours to touch.

Try to keep dust and insects off of it in the meantime. If you're okay with the slightly raised and bumpy texture of the fiberglass tape, you can cover the seam in a polypropylene drop cloth, which doesn't stick to the epoxy and will create stitch and glue boat building tips ltd nice and smooth surface.

If you glus it to be smoother, then suit up in a jumper or long sleeves and pants with legs and arms taped and sand it. Fiberglass gets everywhere, so to avoid itching for weeks, do everything you can to keep dust from flying.

If your joint needs to be super strong, then do a few more seams of tape overlapping the original seam. I made a few modifications to the original plans. For one, Instead of having stringers and screws fastening each piece of plywood, I use the stitch-and-glue method outlined. I also rotated the original cockpit dimensions so that the rounded end was towards the stern.

Additionally, I placed deckplates in the cockpit for access to the five watertight compartments. In the two foreward compartments I added two non-watertight bulkheads at the fore end of the daggerboard box to stop any cargo in those compartments from sliding around too. I also added an additional support beam at the top of the stern between the rear bulkhead and transom.

I coated the entire hull, inside and out, in epoxy for longevity. In terms of the rigging, I kept the general rig dimensions, but added outhaul, sticth, and traveller lines feeding into clam cleats at the cockpit. The spars are 1.

I made the sail with ltr sail-making neighbor of mine, and it is based of off the given dimensions stitch and glue boat building tips ltd the shape "eyeballed".

The The mainsheet goes through a swiveling fairlead and cam cleat located directly aft the daggerboard, with an accompanying block directly above on the boom. I may try and make a higher performance sloop rig; I'm not sure the lateen rig does it justice. On deck, I added a cleat and set of chocks at the bow and an additional cleat as a handle on the daggerboard.

I put an adjustable hiking strap in the center of the cockpit at the floor, which certainly sees use. The hull's nearly flat-bottomed design means that in the water, the Mini-Cup likes to be sailed flat, stitch and glue boat building tips ltd tends to turn into the wind with even small angles of heel.

Awesome project and great modifications to accommodate stitch and glue construction for novices such as myself! Just curious as to how you joined the hull bottom to form the V. Can't tell if you used stringers in the bow If you didn't, then did you just use zip ties to join the pieces?

Also, would you recommend completing this step earlier than the PDF suggests? Reply 5 years ago on Introduction. I used a ratchet strap to bring the bow up before I zip-tied it and removed the strap. Gleu are no stringers anywhere in the boat.

Even easier than epoxy is to use PL Premium construction adhesive. It comes out of a caulk gun and allows you to spread it like peanut butter. Just make sure you use gloves. You can make fillets just like with epoxy. I built stitch and glue boat building tips ltd Puddle Duck Racer this way.

The PL Premium is a polyurethane adhesive that sticks to almost everything, wood, metal. Reply 6 years ago on Introduction. How does the PL Premium construction adhesive finish. Does it have a wood tone, is it clear, or is there some other appearance? Thanks for the feedback hyper. Its probably not sandable. Soo, I'll go with the epoxy method. Although you could probably cut the PL with power tools, I don't think you can really finish it.

It is sort of a brownish yellow when it cures. Bkilding is awesome stuff. We used to have a lot of PL around for gluing subfloors to joists, and we used it to strengthen our saw horses. Once the guy driving the Lull noat over one of the horses, and the wood broke before the joint glued with the PL. I love the finish in the pictures.

How did you pull that off? I'd love to get mine looking like. Stitch and glue boat building tips ltd built a Stevenson design "Weekender" back in the 80's. Also flat bottom and liked to round up when the winds picked up and she heeled. Third year in the water, I modified the swing board to a fixed fin keel, moved the centre of resistance aft almost a foot and what a world of difference. I don't know your sailing background,but boat balance is all about the centre of effort of the sail in relation to the center of sideway resistance of the boat.

Today:

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It isn't probable to operate them upon violent waters. (added: 2-dec-2003 hits: 42695) my Myboatplans� 518 vessel skeleton - tip otd vessel constructing, Either or not you're on vacation a buildint for a initial time or have been to this place for most occasions, only let me know inside Thirty days of buy as ans as I'll gladly reinstate your full buy value, as well as afterwards he wrote to discuss it me which he had finished a vessel, if a glassing step competence be overlooked as well as a carcass embellished with the tip peculiarity enamel.

Stitch and Glue tips and tricks. DIY Stitch and glue boat construction is a lot like sewing. You may have to combine two or more pieces of plywood together into a bigger single piece.

There are several methods for doing this with advantages and disadvantages to each method. Traditionally copper wire was used, but today plastic cable ties are often used instead. This is done so that the 'stitches' wire or cable ties can be removed usually pliers and brute force. Usually this is done on both sides of the seams but I don't think this is necessary on small boats.

Any other pieces of the boat are attached and often secured with epoxy and fiberglass cloth. Things go better with Fiberglass Cloth. We sell 9 oz fiberglass cloth in 50 yard rolls.

Three inch or four inch wide fiberglass "tape". The "tape" is easier for beginners to work with than big sheets of fiberglass - saturate with epoxy and apply like strips of duct tape. Note that when using epoxy and fiberglass cloth, the strength comes from the fiberglass cloth and not the epoxy.

Often the plans purchased to build the boat are very specific regarding the steps above, but in reality you have lots of personal choices cable ties vs. I find that one of the toughest tasks, at least for me, is cutting out the plywood pieces.

You start with a big, bulky 4 foot by 8 foot piece of plywood and it requires very precise and even cutting - especially when you need matching pieces. And the Pros suggest you 'angle cut' or sand the cuts a certain way so that when you stitch them together to butt up against each other very tightly. Most folks would like to have at least the inside of their boat finished 'naturally' - i. You might also check the 'true' of the boat after stitching and before you epoxy it together 'hard'.

Depending upon the design you might need to make sure that the 'bottom' has the same curve on both sides etc. Failing to do this can result in a boat with an obvious 'twist' in the hull shape. Fixing might be as simple as re-adjusting the tension on some of the cable ties, or maybe removing a bit of wood from the edge of one of the plywood panels.

Some hold up better to water, sun and weather better than others and can cost a lot more! In hindsight, I like coating all the plywood surfaces with two or more coats of solvent thinned epoxy to help seal the plywood for the elements and as a bond coat in places you will be using epoxy and fiberglass cloth. The edges of the plywood are areas that really could use the sealing - they are the weak link.

Instead of thinned epoxy, I personally like a product called Aluthane tm which is a thin, one part aluminum based paint as an easier alternative to thinned epoxy to seal the wood. Thinned epoxy tends to drip and sag easily so you can make easily turn a simple sealing coat into a major mess requiring tons of sanding to fix.

I tend to make this mistake because I am too anxious to start putting the pieces together and create something that starts looking something like a boat.

I just use exterior putty to smooth that outside seam. If you use fiberglass cloth you will see the edges of it under your final paint unless you are very good at fairing and sanding the edges of the fiberglass against the plywood. And you sanding of the fiberglass can often sand through the fiberglass right at the seam where you needed it the most.

Then, what was the use of the fiberglass anyway? So, skipping the fiberglass on the outside seams saves what can be for most of us a major headache.

I like using two strips of 3 inch fiberglass tape, overlapping them and inch or so. This gives 2 layers of 'glass' over the critical seam area. On larger boats, the exterior and sometimes interior wood surfaces are all covered with epoxy and fiberglass cloth.

This adds lots of strength strength comes mostly from the fiberglass cloth , but also lots of weight. That said, I like to fiberglass the seam without the gentle fillet curve there will be lots of voids and air bubbles under the fiberglass along the seam then put create the fillet over the uneven fiberglass tape filling, masking and hiding the fiberglass tape under it.

Most folks want to hide the cloth weave. It can take 2 or 3 or more coats of brushed on epoxy to finally fill in the weave. An alternative, if you plan to paint and not 'clear coat' with varnish or poly for natural look, is to use thickened epoxy or conventional putty to fill in the weave followed by more sanding.

So people like to leave the fiberglass weave exposed on the inside of the boat, letting it serve as a non skid surface. If keeping the weight of the boat down is important, then leaving the extra epoxy off is also an option epoxy is about 10 pounds per gallon. The way you treat the fiberglass weave issue will greatly affect how much epoxy you ultimately use. Just a brief tough and epoxy lumps, excess wood etc. It is best to apply a solid color paint or primer over everything that will not be finished natural with varnish.

I like aluthane for this. It seals the putty and other fixes. It also gives a uniform base coat of color and texture under your final topcoat. The house paint market is so huge, that is where the paint companies put their research dollars and competition keeps quality and prices good. Look how many years wooden beach houses go between paint jobs. Of course you can also use hardware store enamel paint, or just about anything else you want to use.

Note that all these thickeners will turn the clear epoxy into a colored epoxy usually a white or off white or a tan. No clear, thick epoxy. Fumed silica is the most common thickener.

It is very light and somewhat difficult to blend into the epoxy. Wood flour is very fine saw dust and results in a tan color. Other fillers, like EZ thick cellulose dust are also often used. Note that it takes about 2 parts of thickener to 1 part of epoxy to make about 1 part of thickened epoxy.

Pre thickened epoxy, like Wet Dry tm which is thickened with Kevlar tm and feldspar is another option for excellent for 'fixing' those construction 'mistakes". Basic No Blush tm marine epoxy is our product. Basic No Bush is a formulated epoxy. Only 4 or 5 marine epoxies are formulated epoxies. This product is featured on the GreatThings4u. The other marine epoxy vendors the low price guys are 'barrel to jug' repackagers. They simply order jugs of material from the major chemical companies and pour those resins directly into jugs for sale to end users.

Its the first all women build and the first on the west coast. Last fall WoodenBoat Publications picked up the concept and got 5 high schools in Maine to start the boat and I am mirroring the idea for high schools in Portland.

The first youth boat will start this fall but in the mean time a group of women approached me about building one too. We encourage groups of all shapes and sizes to experience the camaraderie, team building, collaboration, and self confidence that arise from working towards a common goal.

When it came time to decide about epoxies, the school turned to Michael Bogoger Dory-man for advice. He suggested your product and we've been extremely happy with it. The forgiving nature of the Basic No-Blush tm marine epoxy has been ideal for a school situation where many people are mixing and consistency is not necessarily high. Our first build is a group of 10 women, of diverse ages, who without any woodworking experience are now building a 22 foot St Ayles Skiff.

Basic No Blush is a 'non blushing' epoxy. The competitor's primary epoxies all can produce as waxy film on the epoxy surface when the epoxy cures called "blush". This product uses more expensive curing agents that do not blush. Basic No Blush marine epoxy is offered with a slow summer curing agent for use in hot weather and a fast winter curing agent for use in temperatures just above freezing.

This makes it ideal for winter boat building projects in unheated spaces in the northern states. Basic No Blush being used at boat. More Useful Data. C heck them out at:. Attached is a zip file with photos, plan view, vessel description, and some shots of the previous builds of the same boat.

Having used all the major brands on the market today I find your epoxy to be the easiest, most consistent, and most forgiving marine epoxy product of them all. This boat is being built in an unheated, semi-weather tight workshop, on an island on Lake Winnipesaukee central New Hampshire and consequently I'm more often working in temperatures outside of what is optimal for most epoxies.

While pot life varies considerably in such a wide range your product is very consistent, predictable, and telling when it's time to 'wrap it up', which is definitely not so much the case with some of your competitors. In addition, your pricing is very attractive and while price is not the primary reason why I use your product I definitely appreciate the value you offer, so thank you. Jeff - - Offshore Skiff boat builder.

Originally designed for Offshore Magazine, the Offshore Skiff was intended to be an economical shoal-draft family cruiser or alternately--in the open center-console version--an all-around utility boat. A skiff. She could be a foot rowboat, a foot Jersey sea skiff, or even a foot 17,pound Sea Bright skiff.

The Offshore Skiff, falls nicely in the middle of this range at feet 3-inches overall , feet waterline, 8-foot beam. She draws 26 inches to the bottom of her outboard. Non blushing marine epoxies do not require washing or sanding between epoxy coats or top coating with other paints. Note that we offer Basic No Blush marine epoxy with fast, slow and regular curing agents and it also includes bubble breakers for a more perfect finish.

Our Premium No Bush epoxy is Nonyl free and uses an special curing agent is can be air shipped shipped without restrictions. Basic No Blush is the least expensive of the formulated epoxies and considered the best marine epoxy by many ex-users of the other formulated epoxies. Formulated epoxies all seem to be 'fixed' to allow for this expansion and contraction without cracking by making them less brittle and better able to handle internal stresses.

Links "I've been using the Basic No Blush epoxy on all my own stuff, and using up all the West epoxy on most customers boats. When the West is finally gone I'll only be using your epoxies. Good stuff. I'm rebuilding an old Rybovich so a big order in the future Amber colored curing agent helps bring out the color of natural wood finishes.

The one sheet boat , or OSB , is an outgrowth of the stitch and glue technique. The OSB is a boat that can be built using a single sheet of 4 foot by 8 foot plywood 1. Some additional wood is often used, for supports, chines , or as a transom , though some can be built entirely with the sheet of plywood.

OSBs tend to be very small, since the displacement is limited to a theoretical maximum of about lb kg , based on the largest hemispherical shape that could be formed with the same surface area as the sheet of plywood.

Though forming a hemisphere is possible see geodesic dome , it is not practical, and most designs have maximum displacements of under lb kg , and practical displacements only large enough for a single person. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address. All Stories Copyrighted. Note: Some dead links may occur as this site contains over shantyboat stories compiled over the last ten years plus.

Search for:. Affordable Pontoons? Heading Down the River. Is it safe? Vintage Build? Shows the steps in making a composite joint of Okoume Stitch And Glue Boat Building Tips Ex plywood, epoxy, fiberglass. Wikipedia Says: Technique. Share this: Facebook Email Twitter. Author: Bryan Lowe A website about Shantyboats and affordable living on the water. More than stories to date, and growing. Related Articles. Turning Wooden Bars. Winter Aboard: Insulated Flooring Idea.

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