The weather report for the weekend called for low-to-mid 70s. Because I've been working in my garage, keeping an ambient temperature of 50 degrees has been a challenge. (Much less any hope of getting it warmer than that.) With the outside temperatures and my collection of space heaters, I figured I could get the garage to be warm enough to let epoxy cure.
On Friday, I called an order into Sweet Composites for epoxy and related paraphernalia and picked it up that afternoon. The epoxy was West System 105 resin and 205 fast hardener. Friday evening, I reviewed instructions for mixing epoxy and assembling the pumps. I didn't get to working on the boat until Sunday due to non-boating plans. So, Sunday morning I woke up and headed straight to the garage. Until then, I had kept the epoxy inside because of it being warmer inside (epoxy gets thick when it's cold). I first took care of setting up and priming the pumps for the epoxy.
I used a kitchen timer to ensure that I was mixing the epoxy for a full 1 minute. The first time, it went amazingly quick. By the 3rd batch, I started to wonder if I'd set the timer. A minute is a L-O-N-G time! Each batch was a single squirt with the pump. This gave me enough to glue the gunwales and stringers at each cross section. The 2nd batch, I used about half for gluing the keel before it setup and I had to throw the remainder away. And the 3rd batch, I used for gluing the deck supports and discarded a small amount because I ran out of things to glue.
For the gunwales and stringers, I put glue directly onto the cross section like Tom's instructions direct. I also did tiny fillets along each edge. And, I used a bit of epoxy to fill 2 spots that the plywood had separated.
Finally, I used way more latex gloves than I expected to. Preparing for epoxying, I had set out a few at 3 spots along the workbench (err... strongback). I switched gloves each time I went from applying epoxy to using a tool (drill in the case of the gunwales and stringers). I used the trick from the Red Cross First Aid training to removing gloves inside out without touching skin whatsoever. I also wore my safety glasses in case of splashes and an apron to protect my clothing. And, sadly - Paige was NOT allowed to help with this step. The epoxy is just too ugly to allow her to help.
Next up... finishing off the stems - I need to cut the gunwales and stringers and then glue them into place.
It's really cool to me to have the kayak to this point!
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