Structure in stitch and glue build

If you are going to tab the stringers, Bondo works well to glue them in place and create a fillet.
 
If you are going to tab the stringers, Bondo works well to glue them in place and create a fillet.

bondo is hygroscopic and generally not good to use on boats, consider water ingress under the stringer, an epoxy putty versus a product that soaks water up like a sponge, the reason bondo works on cars is it is sealed

I made the mistake of using bondo on my house and all the latex paint lifted over the bondo repairs.
 
If water gets behind the laminate, there are serious issues on the construction. Bondo would be the least of your worries. Also, latex paint is not likely to be used on a boat bilge.
 
All types of boat construction, save perhaps welded aluminum, but I am not an ally expert, so not fully sure.

All types of boats need to minimize hardpoints, even a metal boat looks bad oil canning, but for s&g, the stringers do not touch, but are p/b bonded or bonded onto foam pads and then tabbed with glass to the hull. Pressing them or fitting them tight by scribing is an error. You should be able to template or set them in the hull full length and take a carpenter pencil and mark contact points with the carpenter and remove the unwanted material with a jigsaw.

You can hold the stringer in place with blocks hotglued or taped to the hull and temp spot bond with pb, or for one day service, make a top jig to support them and lift them off the hull a bit and pb bond/tab them in same day if you are really good at it.

You don’t want to laminate on the horizon. But you can laminate vertical sections, but that’s more than one day of work..
Thanks for that. I will definitely keep this in mind on my next build. All of my little pieces were set in bedding, but I didn't know to avoid points of contact, so points of contact there definitely are.
 
If water gets behind the laminate, there are serious issues on the construction. Bondo would be the least of your worries. Also, latex paint is not likely to be used on a boat bilge.
On the use of bondo, I worked as a house painter in Quebec for a year or so. Very old school over there, bondo and oil paint. A lot of our jobs were scraping out old bondo repairs and redoing them because of failure. Almost all of these were yearly clients. We would do the same repair every year. Montreal has an extreme climate I'll give it that, but these were interior repairs. Fair enough if you've had success with it, but this experience was enough to steer me clear of bondo entirely.
 
I have owned and built stitch and glue hulls and never,ever used glass to bond the stringers to the hull.Those which conformed to the hull easily were put in on a layer of glue and held in place until the glue had cured.The thicker ones were glued in multiple laminates,sometimes in one gluing session.For drainage reasons they mostly stopped short of the bulkheads and I tapered the ends in situ to reduce the stress raising tendencies.I'd be more concerned about having a quantity of glass abruptly ending in the central region of a panel.A lot can be learned about subtle additions of strength by looking at wooden rowing shells or glider frames.
 
On the use of bondo, I worked as a house painter in Quebec for a year or so. Very old school over there, bondo and oil paint. A lot of our jobs were scraping out old bondo repairs and redoing them because of failure. Almost all of these were yearly clients. We would do the same repair every year. Montreal has an extreme climate I'll give it that, but these were interior repairs. Fair enough if you've had success with it, but this experience was enough to steer me clear of bondo entirely.
I assume you were not laminating with fiberglass over new wood on those jobs.
 
On a side note, I just switched my resin system for cost reasons from system three silvertip to their general purpose. And I started getting an immediate reaction to it. No rash, but throat closing, wheezing, the whole deal. Was wearing half mask with vapor cartridges. Is epoxy work over for me? Or could i go back to silvertip. Gonna take a week off.
 
Forum posts represent the experience, opinion, and view of individual users. Boat Design Net does not necessarily endorse nor share the view of each individual post.
When making any potentially dangerous or financial decision, always employ and consult appropriate professionals. Your circumstances or experience may be different.

  • Back
    Top