Building a Freedom Texas Style

tx river rat · Post by **tx river rat** » Fri May 18, 2007 11:18 pm

another pic of layout

I cut and spliced panels and then started stitching them together.

well enough for one night will post more later
Ron

tx river rat · Post by **tx river rat** » Fri May 18, 2007 11:30 pm

LEE SCHNEIDERMANN · Post by **LEE SCHNEIDERMANN** » Sat May 19, 2007 3:38 am

lookin good! don't forget to saturate that luan with epoxy!! Chuck says it's the only way to go!!

PS I see by your prescription , you're over 40!

Oldsparkey · Post by **Oldsparkey** » Sat May 19, 2007 9:21 am

After the panels are stitched together and epoxyed in place ( follow Matt's instructions on how to do that)

Then if you epoxy saturate a inch or two along the seams you can apply some masking tape on each side of the seam over the epoxy saturated area. Do the fillet and when removing the tape you will not pull any wood with the tape. Leaving a nice crisp epoxy fillet with out a lot of sanding.
REMEMBER to REMOVE the tape before the fillet cures.

Plus the epoxy saturation gives the fillet something to bond to besides just the wood.

Chuck.

tx river rat · Post by **tx river rat** » Sat May 19, 2007 10:16 am

have a few more pic
Splices fiberglass on both sides

another shot of the bow

This may be old hat to ya'll but it works very well for the fillet material.
Take coffee can and a zip lock baggy insert it in coffee container fold it around edges go ahead mix your resin take it out snip the end nice neat no mess.

baggy inserted

It has been long day playing with boat I think I will go play.

The small fish in the bottom row is 14 inches to give you an ideal of the size of these of these cats.
Lee I am way over 40 danget
Sparky I am going to glass the inside of the boat.
Thanks
Ron

LEE SCHNEIDERMANN · Post by **LEE SCHNEIDERMANN** » Sat May 19, 2007 10:50 am

good looking bait! You could catch some nice ones with those minnows

LEE SCHNEIDERMANN · Post by **LEE SCHNEIDERMANN** » Sat May 19, 2007 2:19 pm

Oldsparkey wrote:After the panels are stitched together and epoxyed in place ( follow Matt's instructions on how to do that)

Then if you epoxy saturate a inch or two along the seams you can apply some masking tape on each side of the seam over the epoxy saturated area. Do the fillet and when removing the tape you will not pull any wood with the tape. Leaving a nice crisp epoxy fillet with out a lot of sanding.
REMEMBER to REMOVE the tape before the fillet cures.

Plus the epoxy saturation gives the fillet something to bond to besides just the wood.

Chuck.

Chuck,
Should I rough up the saturation area with sandpaper before I apply the fillet?
Lee

Oldsparkey · Post by **Oldsparkey** » Sat May 19, 2007 3:07 pm

You don't need to till you glass the boat because more then 72 hours would of passed and any/ if blush ( a film over the epoxy as it cures) would of appeared.

I would suggest doing a light sanding before putting down the masking tape since the epoxy fills the wood fibers and makes them expand causing some (what I call ) whiskers , or a rough area. The tape does a better job on a smooth surface.
( Run your hand over the sanded wood , then when it is saturated and dried run your hand over it carefully, one will be smooth and one will bite you..... Guess which one )

Chuck.
From the For what is is worth Department.....

Epoxy saturated wood (depending on the amount of saturation ) can be up to 4 times as strong as unsaturated wood.

hairymick · Post by **hairymick** » Sat May 19, 2007 3:53 pm

Hi Tx,

Looking good mate.

those cats look very similar to ours.

Do yours have barbed spines in the dorsal,pectoral and SPAM fins?

tx river rat · Post by **tx river rat** » Sat May 19, 2007 5:19 pm

Hairymick whats a spam fin.
Ours just have one on top one on each side.
Ron