quick question about bondo

[VKRUE]

O.K. I forgot all about the fasteners...

When dealing with fasteners one has a few things to be aware of... Corrosion is one of them. Electralisis is another. Use the wrong type of fasterers and you could literaly turn your entire craft into a battery cell !!! And I guess that this really plays havoc with the existing electrical system and batteries. (Read an artical about this in Wooden Boat Magazine, I think !)

Silicon bronze below the waterline, Stainless above. There are other types as well...

Time for me to go to work now. It cost a lot of $$$ to play with boats

VKRUE

[Ctskip]

I know what you mean when you say "I did it". Its a sense of pride and satisfaction. About 1966, a bunch of us put a sb in a 17 ft boat and man did it fly. Just for fun, so do your homewrk and check everything two or three times and just do it. No risk, no reward.
Keep it up,
Ctskip

[inthegarage]

vkrue
i appreciate everything you say. thanks for all the advice.

i just need to say that i know a proffessor that is a true genious when it comes to electronics. i took 3 years of electronics with this guy and he always blew me away with his knowlege. i invited him over to my cottage to drink beer and help fix my dock. he wouldnt drink the beer and he couldnt even figure out how to square things up. i had to reedo every thing he did.

anyways if i was your buddy i would probably take down a section of my house. actually i would deffinatly take down a section of my house

either that or call up a crane. for $400 bucks an hour he could get a big enough one to reach in and grab it.

and if all elce fails i would call up a heavy lift helicopter, pay them $3000, slap a couple of slings around it and get them to drop it in the lake.

10 years work is worth atleast $3000. anythings possible

[jimslade]

Some of us Just love to build things even if it doesn't float. Im one of them. Newbies need a lot of encouraging words not negative comments about their lack of skills. We all started as diaper wetting babies.

[Figgy]

Originally Posted by jimslade

Newbies need a lot of encouraging words not negative comments about their lack of skills.

That is SO true! No matter how discouraging it might be somtimes. It always helps to have someone behind you, pushing you along, telling you that you CAN do it.
Constructive criticism can go just as far too. There is nothing like seeing the error in your ways BEFORE it's screwed and glued. I cut a dinghy up for this very reason.
Good luck!

[ClassicCruiser]

Don't be disheartened by all this Inthegarage;

A few words of encouragement might be in order,


1) Oceans have been around for millions of years.
2) Boat builders and sailors have been around for at least tens of thousands of years.
3) Degrees in Naval Architecture have yet to experience a century - they did not 'invent', they 'explain'.

The problem of how to derive / form the hull shape is not new, it is probably the original boat construction headache - dug-out canoes were an early solution!

But there are several basic principals, derived from mankinds' thousands of years of boatbuilding experience rather than computor programs in naval architecture, that can give you a basic steer if, as you say, you are a practical guy with a good dollop of common sense.

1) The primary strength will be derived not from the 'skin' thickness, but from its shape and from the framework of support (ribs & stringers) that tie it together.
2) Fiberglass resin does bond reasonably well to plywood IF DONE PROPERLY, but, all things being equal, the resin will bond better with other layers of mat/resin better than with the plywood. So if a plywood stucture giving the shape for a glassfiber build is the way you want to go, it probably makes more sense to build the plywood mould first, lay ALL the fiberglass outside (on top of) the plywood and then fill/fair to an acceptable finnish. But be warned, the filling/fairing is a LONG LABOUR INTENSIVE JOB!
3) There is no sense in using 3mm (1/8 inch) ply - it will distort,warp, will not support the lay-up, and will give you an undulating hull shape that no amount of filling & faring will cure!

Tips;

a) Buy some books like 'WEST SYSTEM TECHNIQUES' or similar for the basics
b) Get hold of as many manufactures' brochures as possible for similar vessels as you want to build and read the 'lay up schedules' given - they will give you an idea of the quantities involved.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Ps. Just read through the above - I should have made clear that the plywood mould is DISCARDED and can therefore be of cheap, low grade material.

[l_boyle]

Say, do not use bondo... Bondo is the worst stuff to use around marine. In auto bodyshop, we seen a lot of rust recurrng under the crap.. Bondo is not waterproof, it soak up water in the matter of time.. Test a layer of Bondo on the scrap wood, let harden, peel it off, then crack it.. Tell me what do you see? Air pockets yes, that right.. Air pockets or bubbles collect water, in turn rot out the wood..
As for putting fuel tank up front, I would put some anti-slosh foam inside of it, available from some speed shops.. It'll keep the fuel from sloshing about in the tank.. That what I uses in my dirtbike..

[Toot]

A lot of good words in this thread.

inthegarage- if you're still around, let me throw this out for you.

A small simple boat, in the 8-14 foot range, can be built in under 50 hours, for a few hundred dollars or so. That's about a week's worth of solid work. In the process of building this little rowboat/ sailboat/ fishingboat/ whatever, you will learn nautical terms for all the stuff you are building. You will research various methods of construction (everybody has their favorite). When you are done, you will have a cute working boat that you can use for little rows around the lake, learning to sail, fishing, or whatever. Heck, you can even give it to a kid as a Christmas present! Or just put a nice deep varnish on it slap on some clear coat, and make it into a fancy table in your den. Whatever.

It will be a few days out of your life and the experience you gain will help you tremendously. Don't make the mistake of thinking "I can start off building anything I want." While that may be true if you have the persistence to follow through, the mistakes you make will likely be much more expensive and the cost of the little boat will more than pay for itself by saving you from making those mistakes on something much bigger and more expensive.

[GAMAL ERIC]

New To All --This Shifted Wood To 'grp' At Near 60--what They Are Telling You Is Mostly Correct---two Things-you Must Have A Dry Cover For Fiberglass-suns Rays Will 'kick It'--second you Are Building 'around An Engine-it Will Work But It Must Be Adequately Cooled !!---unless You Want To Idle On Short Runs As I Saw At Boracay In The Philippine Islands--also Youneed A 'marine' Reverse Gear' ---anything Can Be Done (but) 'Slo Motion' An Unlimited Hydro
Had Direct Drive-----Push The Button And Get Out Of The Way--

[fiberglass jack]

like ur style inthegarage, love the chopper, go have fun and build it if it sinks write it to experance

[GAMAL ERIC]

Fiberglass---to My Ancient Mind -is Comparable In Use To Cement In Some Ways--if You Lay Apiece Of Screening Down And Coat It With Cement -glass Cloth !-- If You Take Heavy Wire Screening (hogwire ?)you Have 'roving'- But There Will Be Voids Around The Squares So You Need To Take A Wool Blanket--'mat-' And Lay It With The Roving----ron Rawson Whom I Learned From Would Not Alow More Than Two Layers Of Roving Without Using Mat --smart -degree In Chemical Engineering---
Ps -i Dont Like It Either !! -but I Was Able To Build Up A 55foot Sunnfjord For An Aleut Fisherman In Later Years--
Gamaleric-

[Jimbo1490]

Reinforced concrete certainly is a form of composite.

Jimbo