Filling Epoxy Seams

[MastMonkey]

I am talking about where sheets of plywood come together at an angle and there is that "V" shapped gap. On the boat I am building this happens where the bottom is attached to the fisrt chine. I filled the first seam with epoxy thicked with wood flour by troweling it in. It made a complete mess and I have spent the last several days sanding around this seam to get it smooth. Is there an easier way to do this?

[KnottyBuoyz]

You don't have to completely fill it on the first pass. Use a 1/2" pvc pipe cut to about 3" long to hold the gap at a consistent spacing. Wire zip ties hold these in place. Spot weld the sheets together on either side of the pvc pipe with your epoxy/woodflour goop. Once it's setup you can remove the pipe and zip tie. Then put some cheap duct tape on the inside of the seam and then go to work with the remainder of the goop. You don't have to fill it all the way up on one pass, layer it in a bit at a time working wet on wet if you can. Just start at one point and work your way around the boat a few times till you get all the joints filled. Makes working a little neater.

[lewisboats]

Yep...use tape to delineate the borders of the fillets, then use a spoon or tongue depressor or a piece of plastic cut to the required fillet radius. Check out THIS thread and go down a bit...it shows how to do it. Peel the tape before the fillet gets rock hard. You can also tape directly over the fillet once it gets past the sticky stage but is still a bit tacky...this lets you pull the tape without damaging the fillet. Then you put your tape on, wet it out, let it tack and do a fill coat, repeat until satisfied. You might have to sand once...more to feather the edge than anything else.

[MastMonkey]

I can't believe I didn't even think about tape :just like painting. Can thickened epoxy go through a syringe? I saw a big one with maybe a 3/16" inch opening but wasn't sure if the thick epoxy would come out evenly.

[KnottyBuoyz]

Originally Posted by MastMonkey

I can't believe I didn't even think about tape :just like painting. Can thickened epoxy go through a syringe? I saw a big one with maybe a 3/16" inch opening but wasn't sure if the thick epoxy would come out evenly.

Go to the grocery store and get yourself some Glad Zip Lock freezer bags. Snip the end and you're good to go just like a piping bag used to ice a cake!