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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on April 19, 2016 at 8:28pm

I`ll 2nd the tired of the sanding, and Ive still got a bunch to do. What dia did your oar shafts end up at? Sorry about spelling your name wrong in my oar wrap post in my last page of my thread, I ran out of time to edit it. Your boats looking good, getting close...

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Permalink Reply by dreu patterson on April 20, 2016 at 1:17pm

thankyou mike and rick for the reply.shaft dia. is 1.5"  = or- 1/16" at the paddle end.I left it bigger at the buisness end to fit the oarlocks better after I wrap them.I am picking out boat paint for sides and hull.I was going to gel coat as I have had good results on powerboats but am undecided because I want a color other than white and have never pigmented gelcoat.Do you have any suggestions? I scrapped the vinyl polyester and am going with epoxy to glass up.To be sure let me know rick and mike that you both got this message.thankyou-dreu

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on April 21, 2016 at 8:11pm

I have not worked with gel coat before. Were the powerboats fiberglass? I would do some research on how vinylester resin sticks to wood. Perhaps do a test if you have the means. Are you going to spray on the gel coat? What preparation do you have do to the wood? How is it to repair? Is it resistant to dents and dings?

Rick

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Permalink Reply by dreu patterson on April 27, 2016 at 8:10pm

rick,the powerboats were fiberglass and I sprayed it on the sides with great results. I also brushed and rolled it on over glass lammed wood to create a "bullet proof" floor.I mixed in a little silica sand for a non skid surface.the floors were layed up with polyester resin and the sides (exterior) was over polyester resin repair or existing fiberglass.I have the last boat I worked on and it shows no sighn of failure.I was going to use vinylester resin for my driftboat,but after reading all the negative feedback on how it sticks to plywood I chickened out and went with epoxy.The nice thing about ester based resin is its chemical bond to gelcoat and therin lies the rub for me.Gel coat mechanically sticks to epoxy( so Iv'e read about and seen experiments) and takes the typical prep work as any paint job.I have never used primer and don't plan on it.It is tough stuff and I will use it on my drifter with confidence.I will take pics and report on its performance here.thanks for your interest-Dreu

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on April 19, 2016 at 10:07pm

Your choices are paint, varnish, epoxy under varnish or paint. epoxy and fiberglass on the tips with paint or varnish. Paint is the cheapest and easiest to fix. Many of the dories in the Grand Canyon use paint and feature interesting color schemes. Since your oar design is unproven I would suggest paint until you decide you like them.

Rick N

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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on April 20, 2016 at 4:07pm

When I was a kid, had a couple wooden boats. I always used Valspar marine paint. Even back in the day it cost about $40 a Qt which was big money when I only made 1.65 a hr (good thing I was living at home) but it went really far, flowed out really well with a brush and looked great for about 5 yrs. I imagine any good marine paint should give the same results. Its in the prep, primer and sanding (your favorite thing to do!)

Rolling the epoxy then tipping it with a foam brush makes the epoxy go alot farther and gives a better coat then just brushing. (less sanding too) if your doing the sides. I just brushed some on the oars.

I might have to thin my shafts, they are 2 in all the way right now plus I glassed the blades.

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