In preparation for the recore job, last winter I ordered 6 sheets of CoreCell A500 (B) 9MM PL 23"x48" for $73.14 from Noah's Marine. I'm very pleased with how well the thickness matched the previous balsa core and how easy the stuff is to work with. It's light and kind of "crispy" or brittle. I cut the pieces of CoreCell with a mat knife and dry fit them
onthe deck (picture on left). It felt good, like I was finally putting things back together rather than endlessly ripping the boat apart.
Next, I went below and taped up any of the holes where expoxy might drip through. To the right is my "prepped" deck, including the hole through the lower skin from my over zealous grinding.
Finally, it was truly the time for epoxy. For the first batch, I figured I'd need a decent amount of thickened epoxy to fill the holes and stuff it in around the edges where I had dug out the exposed balsa core. I needed it thick enough so it would bridge the gaps and stand up along the edges of my cuts. What I hadn't counted on, was how much silica thicker it would take to get there. I bought a bunch of quart size plastic buckets with measurements on the sides. I figured I'd go for about half or a little more in one of these. I poured the resin to the desired mark. Then I poured the hardener, which was a mess and a real pain, from the can. Inspite of all the dripping down the side of the can, I managed to get the right amount into the bucket. I stirred and stirred and went outside by the boat where the silica thickener was located and my thickening station was set up, and started adding. I thought I was real clever by snagging a coffee measuring spoon to dispense it - long handle, nice shape for scooping, etc. I started with three heaping spoonfulls, expecting the epoxy to thicken up, which it didn't. The stuff is a pain to mix into the epoxy, so each addition takes a while. Needless to say, I kept adding and stirring and adding and stirring until it was
finally thick enough to apply. I climbed up to the boat, which was in full sunlight now, and got to work.
No sooner had I begun that the bucket started getting warm, really warm. Hmm, I thought, it must be getting ready to "kick", impressed with myself and my newfound epoxy lingo. "Curious", I thought, as smoke start wisping out of the mixture, which quickly became too hot to hold. Then I thought, "Damn! Now
this is hot!" - by the way, latex gloves are not good insulation against heat. So I placed the smoking bucket on the deck since I couldn't hold it any longer and figured I'd really better hurry up. I grabbed my stir stick/spreader which was in the bucket, and the whole pot came with it. The epoxy had already started setting and was unusable, and the stir stick was stuck fast. So I carried my smoking bucket by its stir stick handle to a bare patch of dirt and nonchalantly wandered inside where I could watch in case the mess exploded. The first batch is the one on the left.
Take 2 - a smaller batch. More precise measurements were needed, and this time the hardener was an absolute mess, with more running down the side of the can than was going into my next bucket. I thickend what I had, patched a hole, stuffed what was left along the edges, then went to Hammilton's Marine to get a pump kit. My route there takes me across the Casco Bay bridge and the day was absolutely gorgeous. Sailboats were out - everywhere - in Casco Bay. And my clever expoxy lingo was long forgotten.
The rest of the day, however, did get much better. I got better with each successive batch as can be seen in the picture above. I found much better success with smaller batches, though it is a pain to be constantly mixing the epoxy. I thickened a batch and filled the edges (picture on left). Then I made another and "wet out" the lower skin with unthickened epoxy, and placed three fiberglass cloth patches over the bad spots, then added more expoxy on top of those and pressed them down. I used a cheapo paint brush to spread the unthickened epoxy which worked pretty well. Then I thickened another batch and smeared it on the underside of the CoreCell and place the pieces on the deck. Then, I wet out the bottoms of the deck pieces, thickend it and smeared epoxy over the CoreCell, then set the deck skins on top. Yadda yadda yadda.
I capped off the day by placing wax paper over the deck and laid some boards across that to distribute the weight more evenly. Bricks and milk jugs filled with water were placed on top of that, at which time I wiped up what epoxy squeezed out the seams, then covered it all with the tarp.
Real progress at last!
The original goal was to get the decks recored, faired and painted and the boat splashed by August . (Swing and a miss!) At least the side decks are recored and the recore learning curve is mostly behind me. All that's left for this season is to button the boat up for the winter and sneak in mini projects on the nice days until the cold weather is here to stay. I'm thinking I'll at leat set up some sort of workshop in the basement and attempt some varnshing over the winter. Discouraging? Yes. Feeling somewhat accomplished? Yes. I learned a lot.
