JEM Watercraft

G'day John,

Temperature in my work shed at last edged up passed about 12 degrees

Come to Queensland mate.

I sook moan and bleat like a lost lamb on the rare occasions it gets that cold here.

Lit the fire this morning, It got down do 16 10am went for a paddle with my mate in shorts & a T shirt.



Oh yeah, Your boat is looking real good mate.

Mick,....sounds good!.....I'm on my way!!!........

Bring beer!!!

Coming right along, John. In the picture you posted on Saturday the 26th, before application of Graphite, I love the curve at the far stem end. That plywood just curves around in such a neat way, and it looks so hydrodynamically clean.

It just looks like it's cutting water laying there upside down! Mat's design, and your hard work make a boat worth talking about.

Thank ya' Jack......Yes, Matts design has produced a pretty shaped thing.

Ok.....A little more progress....and a bit of fiddling around.
I wasn't completely happy with the light colour of the hull in contrast with the stained decks and gunwales.......(I'll know next time to think more about the finished look before commiting to it by glassing.....Oh well all part of the learning curve)
Anyway, I decided I'd just paint the hull if it really bugged me. But then I stumbled on a product that gave me another option. It's a transparent dye for epoxy resin.....I figured I had nothing to loose by trying it.
I sent away for some "autumn brown" since it looked like it would give me the closest match to the original stain on the decks.
It took a bit of experimenting to work out how much I'd need to use. In the end, I used two bottles of concentrate in a final resin coat over the hull....except for the area already graphite coated. It seems to have worked a treat and I'm much happier with the final look.....
Having done that I also decided to change the painted inside and stripe colour.
This is the stuff.

Changed colour scheme and darker hull.

Impressive, John. I'm presuming the epoxy set up fine with that dye in it? For the rest of us dummies out here, how did you buy the dye? Internet? Could you give us the contact info etc?

Yes Jack, it set up well. The curing prcess has been somewhat slow of late due to the wintery conditions but I waited for the warmest day we'd had for awhile and it went off as normal.
It took a little more work with roller and brush to even out the colour over the hull....
In this sort of application it's not fully transparent but close to it.
The product is mainly intended for small epoxy resin craft items and trinkets hence the need to go for a fairly heavy concentration to get a definite tint in such a thin coating over the hull.
I bought it online from a craft materials manufacturer here in Oz. They also have an ebay shop.
I'd be happy to post the manufacturer web address here if Matt gives the all clear....

no problem on posting the link.

And she looks pretty cool like that!

Thanks Matt.
Supplier was Aldax Moulds
http://www.aldax.com.au/

Online catalogue page for the dyes.
http://www.aldaxstore.com.au/search.asp ... =resin+dye