canoe joining

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by prathab, Jun 18, 2014.

  1. prathab
    Joined: Mar 2014
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    Location: india

    prathab Junior Member

    i have made fiber glass canoe into two half part in female fiber glass mould , since it has thumble home shape i have to make it in to two half ,.. i try to join those half piece but it seems to be little hard to make perfect joint . can you give me solution for best way to joint together perfectly.
    thank you .
     
  2. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
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    gonzo Senior Member

    The solution is to make the mold in two parts.
     
  3. prathab
    Joined: Mar 2014
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    prathab Junior Member

    yes , i have two half mould & done the product into two half . upto this was finished , now how to join that two half piece of canoe with perfection & easy method . it is 16 feet canoe , beam will be 75 cm , made of fiber glass with epoxy resin , total weight will be around 18 kg .
    thank you
     
  4. Mr Efficiency
    Joined: Oct 2010
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    You have a two-piece mould, but made the canoe in two separate pieces ?
     
  5. Steve W
    Joined: Jul 2004
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    Location: Duluth, Minnesota

    Steve W Senior Member

    Normally a split mold will have a joining flange where you bolt the 2 halves together, the flange has locator buttons molded in which guarantees perfect alignment of the 2 halves. Does your mold not have locators? On a small mold such as this you would typically mold the boat as one piece and then split the mold to remove the hull. You can of course lay it up as 2 separate halves and then join them together but you would do this by bolting the mold halves together using it to support the flimsy parts and to align them, then you would split the mold again to release the hull.

    Steve.
     
  6. rwatson
    Joined: Aug 2007
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    Location: Tasmania,Australia

    rwatson Senior Member

    Its not that big a deal.

    Just epoxy and tape the two hulls together, and sand the joins smooth.

    If you use peel ply or similar plastic over the epoxy job, you can reduce the amount of sanding considerably.

    I assume you are going to paint the hull ? If you have a coloured coating laid up in the mould, then matching the finish on the join is going to be tricky.

    As mentioned before, the best way is to lay up the boat totally in the joined together moulds, to avoid a seam down the middle.
     
  7. prathab
    Joined: Mar 2014
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    prathab Junior Member

    if i make lay up as a single piece by keeping two moulds together , as we know the stem part its very hard to layup since its very narrow , we are using infusion method too. its difficult to remove infusion mesh & so on .
     

  8. Steve W
    Joined: Jul 2004
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    Location: Duluth, Minnesota

    Steve W Senior Member

    If it is difficult to layup the ends as a single piece it will be equally difficult to glass them together as two halves.

    Steve.
     
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