Monday, February 3, 2014

The Utility: Finally a little progress

After being held up by various delays, including a week of unusually harsh winter weather, I've finally made a little progress. I've added the first coat of epoxy to encapsulate the stem, as well as the undersides of the breasthook, sheer, and chine at the forward end of the boat.

These surfaces will need 2 additional coats before I'm ready to resume planking.

It is possible that my epoxy mixture was not entirely accurate; or that the curing process was slowed by exposure to cold temperatures; or a combination of the two. Whatever the cause, it is taking a considerable amount of time to cure. It is, however, progressively curing. 

This happened to me once before, early-on in my Squirt build. Some epoxy that I applied during rather cold weather remained pliable for a couple of days. It did eventually harden, however. I will know in a couple more days if this batch is going to fully cure or not. I think it will.

The forward end of the boat, all taped up for encapsulation. This is so I won't get epoxy on the surfaces where the planking will attach later.
UPDATE: The epoxy did eventually cure, although it took 2 days. I had mixed and applied the epoxy in low temperatures on the borderline of the 50 degree F limit of the Silvertip slow hardener.

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