83 SN restore in Idaho

Thanks for the kind words. Don't loose to much sleep over it that stuff expands to fill pretty much any void.

There is a thread somewhere on this site about how to post pictures. If they are on your computer it's really pretty easy. Go into the full editor when you are going to post a reply. It's the button with the two white boxes with an arrow pointing up and to the right. Then hit the button with the tree and the upward pointing arrow. That will open a window that will let you browse to the location they are stored on your computer. Select and upload, just make sure that they aren't huge photos or it will take forever to up load and they will be hard to view in the forums. If you need more help do a seach for the post that I mentioned earlier.

Everyone on this site loves photos and they love to help folks out so it might be worth your time. I have received invaluable advise throught this site, in large part due to the photos that I and others have posted. Good luck.

jlagrow wrote: Hey Seth, your foam looks great!! What aproach did you use to get it so level? I am getting close to foaming my Southwind. Did you get your foam from US Composite? John

Sorry this is a little bit of a hijack...
Hey John, you need to get some pics of the southwind up, I'd love to compare with my 72. I've finally got most of the floor up and have been digging into the foam and finding tons of water. I'm planning on no foam(tims just another bfn rebuild thread is a great template!!!) To post pics click on post reply(not quick reply).Choose the picture button with the arrow. I've found I need to make them smaller to fit on here. photo resizing
I've used that website to resize pictures to fit on here.
Scott

Nice work John. What part of Houston do you live in? What body of water do you boat on?

Still got quite a ways to go. I split the hull from the deck. That is going to take a little doing to mate them correctly again. Yoo know that the last 10% of the work is 90% of the time!

I live up in Magnolia. Move here 4 years ago from St. Louis MO where I used the Southwind on the mighty Miss. Never got the boat wet in TX. Planning on a spring launch in Lake Conroe.

Looks like he has an open bow Pete. Would be b---- to get in there without splitting the hull. BKH

i would love to be able to work with wood like that most of the time it ends up being fire wood

Thanks Seth,
I didn't mean to hijack my project onto your restore site. Realy apprec. the advice and kind words. I was also able to connect with Scott (politicallycorrect)a Southwind guy. Corectcraftfan is a great group!! Oh YES, my helper just cann't wait to captain the ship!! JOHN

I made some more progress over the last couple of days. The floor in the front is sealed with CPES and bonded to the foam/stringers. I also have part of the first layer of glass over the foam.

And now the invitible happened - I ran out of glass and epoxy. Going to order more tommorrow. I have also decided to go the route of pigmented epoxy for the bilge. Does anyone know how much epoxy it takes to do three ish coats?

Seth,
If he said the 2 layers of biax wouldn't work over the 2lb foam, what did he tell you will? Yes, other members have done quite allot of glass over the foam. I have not since I'm one of the "no foam"guys so we'll need to wait for Tim on the answer!!

I love you work!! Very detailed and what looks like fantastic woodworking. Now, I need to get you into a wood boat!! Do think about it. I convinced Billy and now look at the trouble he's in!

One thing to keep in mind is 2lb foam will support 35 lbs per sq. in. but that's evenly distributed. The problem comes up when Tim like's to see Melisa in her high heels climb into the boat for an evening ride!!   

KFD14 wrote: Do you guys think a different lay up schedule is appropiate??

Yes, just layup a couple more layers of the biax. You'll be fine. Some of those "tech" guys have never seen a boat let alone done some actual layup!! Sorry, but sometimes they are good and other times not.

KFD14 wrote: I just spoke with the tech guy at US Composites. He said that the 2lb foam with two layers of 1708 biaxial I'm planning on using for the floor will not work. He said that the foam will compress under the glass and cause problems.

That's pucky. I saw this in my e-mail and had to jump in. After I leveled my foam(2lb), I coated it heavily with epoxy and then applied 3 layers of cloth in sequence to have it all bonded together. It's solid as a rock.

I went light because I intend to look back in there before I re-gel and it has held up wonderfully. I've jumped in with my big a$$ and 0 deflection after what...3 years?

2 layers of biax bonded all together with the initial epoxy on the foam is plenty IMO.

So I just finished laying the first layer of Biax on the floor.

Had a question I was hoping to get some help with. I was planning on using tinted epoxy for the bilge and battery box, however I don't really like the color of the tint I got. I was wondering if I could use regular latex paint tint, like any paint store would use to tint their paint. I'm running some tests to see if it cures but I wanted to make sure that no one knew of any problems with that mixture.

Ya I know I just don't want to wait for them to ship them to Idaho, a week plus. So I talked to the tech at USC today, he said that any polyester based pigment will work - that is what theirs are. He said that they are commonly used by auto paint shops and that what they use to tint auto pain with will work. Opens up a lot of color options and makes getting the right color easy.

I got the rest of my glass and resin ealier this week and have made some good progress. I now have a second layer of biax on almost everything. Need to do some touch up and finish the layup around the battery and cooler boxes. Started fairing out the bilge and will be sanding it to try to make it somewhat smooth. Trying to not be to OCD about it but I want to get it a little better than it started. Should be ordering my carpet Monday!!