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Comment by Michael Bolla on May 20, 2010 at 7:39am

Truck showed up yesterday with the crate. I am currently finishing another project (pinball machine restoration) should be done by the weekend and will reconfigure the workspace for the drift boat. I will keep you posted on the project with pics.

Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

Michael

Comment by Scott Hepler on April 27, 2010 at 3:25pm

I forgot your other question on the epoxy. I did this boat kinda different. I just ordered the bottom, the sides and the fiberglass kit from Jason. the rest of the boat I did from scratch. He has that CNC router so the step scarfs on the sides, and the bottom was routed out for me. The extra epoxy I got from Fiberglass supply out of CA.

As far as the icing knife, it won't be good for cooking after this boat.

keep in touch.

scott

Comment by Scott Hepler on April 27, 2010 at 2:50pm

I don't trust the pumps, I have them and have used them but you have to be very careful with them as not to get any air bubbles in there, make sure the pump is fully primed after they have sat a week etc etc. and frankly it was just as easy and quicker for me to use the scale. Like if you want about 12oz of epoxy, you would put a paper cup and zero out the scale, pour 8oz of resin in the cup, then when the scale reads 11.5 oz with the hardener added, you have a batch. or 10oz of resin plus 4.4oz of hardner, so on and so on. Just find the total amount that you usually need and used those numbers over and over. Plus mix it up for at least 3 min, I had the radio going all the time and would just mix for a whole song. I know I am going into a lot of detail and maybe I don't need to. I just wish someone would have told me on my first boat. But it did give me a reason (excuse) to build another.
Your Japanese saw sounds great, you will get your monies worth out of it.
Jason has a great detailed binder that should come with your boat. But if I can help with the little questions please don't hesitate to ask. I don't always check in with the site so if you want a quicker resonse e-mail me and I check that throughout the day.

see ya

Comment by Michael Bolla on April 27, 2010 at 1:42pm

Scott,

Thanks for all the info. I will order the scale. Did you use the pumps on the epoxy and hardener? Make's sense to use the quick fillet and quick fair. Did you buy it form Jason or direct from System3? I will pick up a new scribe. I have an air grinder and a Makita electric so should be good there. Funny thing is I also like to cook so already have the cake icing knife. As far as the Japanese pull saw. Dozuki, Bakuma, Beading, Feather? What size. Have a gift certificate from woodcraft that just started to burn a hole in my pocket after your post. I was thinking a 240MM Dozuki Z and a 30MM Ryoba (cross and rip blades)?

On the finishes and things I will seek you help a bit later. I don't want to get to far ahead of myself.

Thanks again,

Michael

Comment by Scott Hepler on April 27, 2010 at 4:40am

Michael,

Glad to hear you did the plascore bottom, It is awesome, you will love it. It makes the boat so much lighter, and quieter on the water.

This was my second build and I learned alot of things on the first that made this one go so much easier. The first time I do anything I always end up saying "If I could do that over I would have done this". So I will blab a bit and you can take it or leave it.

One critical thing that I learned on the first build the hard way was to measure the system 3 exactly, and they mean exactly. I knew that but I still had one batch not go on the first build, what a mess. So this time I bought a $20 digital scale from target and used that to measure every batch of epoxy. p.s. system three is 2/1 by volume but 44/100 by weight. Which makes it no big deal on a digital kitchen scale since they will measure out to 100s.
With the epoxy, I bought system 3's quick fillet, and their quick fair. And I would do that again. Jason uses them, you decide.

A few simple tools that I used a lot are a scribe too, you will use that on everything. I also used a 4" grinder with a 30 grit flapper wheel to sneak up on the scribe lines and to smooth out the transition lines on the fiberglass tape, like on the chines, and around the pedestals etc etc, it goes much faster than trying to do it with a orbital sander. A good japaneze pull saw is a must. I also found a great way for me to put in really neat fillets. I would mask off where the fillet would go, use a cake icing knife with a 1" wide blade and a round end. Put the epoxy/flour in a ziploc bag and cut the corner, squeeze the epoxy mix in the fillet, make it fairly smooth with the knife, then monitor it until it was just starting to get firm but still very sticky, pull the tape. then take your finger (in a latex glove) dip it in alcohol and smooth the fillet out. It makes them really smooth and pretty and you don't have to sand.

I did the durabak floor on the inside and am very very happy with that. Do it outside and wear a mask as that stuff will send your family to a hotel if you do it in the garage, don't ask me how I know.

I sprayed bristol for the inside and it is perfect, very easy to spray if you have a good gun. I brushed the first boat and won't ever us a finish I have to brush, If I can't spray it I won't use it.

This is starting to turn into a book so I will stop but if you have any questions I am more than happy to share what I know. Keep up with the pics and have fun. It is a great build and for me, bitter sweet when it is over. You will have a perfect fishing rig but no more boat to build.

Scott

Comment by Michael Bolla on April 26, 2010 at 1:12pm

Saw your photos. Great job on the build. I did order the plascore bottom. Spoke with Jason last week and finalized the order. Just beginning to clean the garage to get ready for construction project. Have been reading on glass and paint techniques as well. Any odd or unusual tools you think I will need. Specific router bits, block planes etc..? Can't wait to get started.

Comment by Scott Hepler on April 26, 2010 at 12:02pm

Congrats on pulling the trigger. I just finished the kingfisher and it was a great build. Did you order the plascore bottom? Keep the pics coming, and ask a lot of questions. Good luck

Comment by Bryan McDade on April 21, 2010 at 4:31pm

Welcome, and pre-thanks for the posts as I have been itching to build one of these too. It will be great to see this come about. Best of Luck!

Comment by Rick Newman on April 21, 2010 at 5:43am

Welcome to the group. As you have mentioned there are a lot of helpful and knowledgable folks here. Good luck on the build and keep us updated and show us lots of pictures.

Rick Newman