Bronze and Steel

temperature does not effect your epoxy work too much (to some extend of course), but humidity. Make sure you work in a dry place, and that humidity there does´nt build up when you leave the job.
Low temperature in fact can assist a novice at his first attempt. It makes the resin thicker and curing slower. Often that is very helpful.
To get EP to cure fully, you must heat your shed up after finishing your layup. Go up to as much as 24 -25°Celsius for your daily job and give the whole vessel a postcure treatment heating the shed up to about 75°C for at least three hrs. These temperatures should increase and decrease quite slowly (in 3 - 5°C increments per 10 -15 minutes, or slower) and ALL the piece (hull or what) should be equally warmed up. A little fan is helpful to heat up the inside of a upside down built.

Regards
Richard

 

hmmm, that is a problem.

We don't have a shed or anything like that.

 

You will have to wait then until the outside temperatures are stable at above 20°C , or build some construction with tarp!?

 

Even at night?

 

No, just `til the resin gelled.

But after you have finished the Epoxy job on the boat (and within a few weeks after starting) you should bring it into a room where you can heat it up to about 75°C as described.

 

How long after you have "finished" the boat is it till you can actually use it?

 

Next day after postcuring and painting.

But I would postcure the main structure (hull / deck) soon after finishing it and before all the fitting out goes in it.
The latter is more often than not consuming more time than the big parts.

 

Cool!

Heres a question.

How do you transfer the plans from the paper to the plywood?

The plans are sized to a sheet of paper but need to be much bigger.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lofting
In fewer words you redraw the plan on the materials.. measure.. scale.. draw.. check and correct..

 

Hmmm, I don't get it. And I can't find a guide I don't have to pay for.

 

Use the Library system.
You can order online the book you want from an other Librairy to be shipped to the Librairy of your town.
It's free and fun to do.
Start by going to your Library, the membership is free, and start from there.
Daniel

 

Trace the plans on the building material using carbon paper then cut it out. I'm assuming you have full size plans.

 

if my plans where full size the kayak would come out about big enough for a Barbi.

They are the size of a regular piece of paper.

 

Is there a way to do it without full sized plans that I don't have to order a book and study first?

 

A well drawn set of plans must be divided into (usually) evenly-spaced segments by lines. Each view has lines and the hull's shape at the crossing of the lines can be measured as a distance from a baseline.
The measurements are transferred to what is called a table of offsets.
There are a number of views (side, top, end, etc.) and each view will have its own set of measurements.
Although it's not possible to be absolutely accurate because the drawing is too small for its measurements to be scaled up, the problem is solved by a process starting out with the measurements in the table and laying out the full measurements on a floor, and this is called lofting. Connecting the "dots" scaled up from the best measurements one can get from the smaller paper version is done with long, springy strips of wood bent around small nails.
Then, if a mark on the floor isn't allowing a fair curve, it is moved. The drawings on the floor show each view and each view is checked against each other view for congruence.
One can work on a few views at once, going back and forth and correcting between them and eventually, a full size set of lines emerges from which accurate and mutually agreeing parts can be made.
Some designers sell plans on paper at a small scale with a table of offsets. Many sell small boat plans with full size patterns. In that case, the lofting has already been done. All you have to do is copy the plans to the wood with a series of pin-pricks or whatever does the job.
As a beginner, the lofting process may seem daunting but it's a great way to self-check a set of plans, since lofting is a guaranteed process. if you screw up, you know it because the views don't check against each other.