Cracked Gunwale Expoxied and Clamped Up

[catsittingstill]

I spent the morning at YET ANOTHER county commission attempt to snatch already approved funding out of the hands of schools that obviously desperately need it.  They failed, but mostly on a technicality; they got the item on the agenda a day late and thus needed a 2 / 3 majority that they didn't quite have.  I am pretty sure it will be on the next county commission meeting agenda and there they will only need a simple majority.  If the absent members of the commission show up and vote the right way we *might* be able to hold them off again...

Sigh.

Then I came home, had a belated and well deserved lunch, and went off to the feed store to buy syringes and needles.  All they had were 18 and 20 gauge so I bought one of each.  I figured I'd try the 18 gauge first and if that didn't work I'd go to the 20 gauge, which is smaller.  The viscous epoxy would have a harder time getting through the smaller needle, but the smaller needle would penetrate more deeply into the crack.

The 18 gauge needle worked just fine.  I mixed up 12 ml of epoxy (thanks again to Randolph for his clever idea of using syringes to measure; before I used syringes I couldn't make less than 3 fluid ounces of epoxy at a time), injected it into the crack at the top, at the sides of the spacers and on the bottom of the spacers as best I could.  Then I clamped everything up, wiped off as much of the squeezeout as possible, and went away and left the canoe COMPLETELY ALONE, figuring that it had to be as still as possible for the best possible bond to form.

I did use the excess epoxy to paint part of the seat that I had missed the first time, and one little patch on the gunwale--which is beautiful--just to see what the wood would look like when sealed.  Then I talked myself down and took off the gloves and got out of the boatshop.

Tomorrow we'll see where we are.

Comments

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

That sounds hopeful.

You're welcome for the suggestion. I learned it from Prof. Mark Ganter (ME) at UW, though, and I think it's common practice.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Well, I had not heard of it and wasted ounces and ounces of epoxy before you suggested it and I gave it a try. Now I'm scraping the last little bits of epoxy out of my bottles and wishing I had been using this method all along.

(I've got more epoxy but I'm hoping to save that for the next boat.)

[boywizard.livejournal.com]

I have some syringes designed for woodworking, but they are nowhere near as small as 20 gauge. I have used them to try to force glue into thin cracks with limited success, but the feedstore syringes sound much better. As for measuring epoxy, I used to use an Ohaus triple beam balance accurate to a tenth of a gram, but I now find that a kitchen scale made by Escali and available on Amazon ($24) is more convenient to use and sufficiently accurate (1 gram or 0.1 ounce). It also comes in really handy in the kitchen.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Maybe I was unclear--the syringe I used was a 12 ml syringe. I bought *needles* that were 18 and 20 gauge. Those get pressed on the end of the syringe. I did buy syringes from a Woodcrafters (a woodworking store) once but I was *very* disappointed in them. I could hardly force the putty out of them, and the rubber pads kept coming off the pistons. The feedstore syringes are available in vaccinate-a-baby-bunny to choke-a-horse sizes, and are sturdy enough for repeated use (plus you can use acetone to get epoxy out and it doesn't destroy the syringe.)

Ooo nice idea on using the scale to measure epoxy. Are the resin and hardener the same density?