UPDATE on The Toy

Folks have commented on  why am I not focusing on The Toy. Mostly it is because I am focused on The Venture, I really want her in the water ASAP!
Also I have been reading all the books I have been getting. 
I've been debating on do I cut The Toy down in length or leave it as she is.  I'm fairly close to the Texas border and in Texas a boat smaller then 14 ft does not need to be tagged. Since my first choice for closest possible sailing spot is Lake Texhoma, I'm thinking it would save me money.
Either way I can tie it down to the Ventures deck and go . In the back of my mind assuming the guys will want to come with, I figure we can take both and they can go do their thing while I'm doing my thing.
Since I'm going to learn how to fiber glass with the rudder, I'm seriously thinking to just fiberglass her hulls with polyester. That way I could conceivably have her in the water soon after it warms up enough to get it done.
I bought a small trailer from a neighbor cheap enough, I need it get it new tires. Putting a floor on it is a thought I have been playing with . It needs the tongue extended but that is not a big problem. The idea is use that to pull the Toy until I have a roof rack for  her made to fit the Lumina or get a tow vehicle for the Venture and use that.  I have a light weight hitch for the lumina..  Most of this is outside work and let's face it , winter  just not conducive to out door work, even in Oklahoma.
So for all you folks out there that have been wondering whats up with The Toy, that's the latest on her.

Saw Dust Factory : Rudder page 4 The Fiberglass Jig Continued

Last pic was  one side of the rudder boards being in place in the jig for the first dry fit.   I need to mention that I used two pieces of paper on this to intentionally have a lot of over lap between the jig and the adhesive, as well as over lap on top.  Also note, I put the shiny side up.

  If you are using most types of polyester you HAVE TO BLOCK AIR  OR IT WILL NOT CURE!!!!!       

MAKE  ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU RESEARCH , READ AND UNDERSTAND THE INSTRUCTIONS WITH ANY PRODUCT YOU PURCHASE  BEFORE YOU START YOUR PROJECT.  Online tutorials, youtube how to videos,  any other how to video I could find online and calling the manufacturer of the product are how I learned what I needed to know.  Look at as many sources as you can find. You will get differing opinions and methods. That is  good thing. It will help you figure out  what will work best for you and what your comfortable with.  What one video don't cover many times is covered in a different one. 

When you can visualize  the steps involved of what your going to do and how you are going to do it, and don't have any worries of doing it the way you have in mind because you have done your  home work,  you are probably ready to make your materials list and start collecting what you need.

 
I have been doing my own honey do's for over 20 years. Even those of us who have experience can make mistakes that, if not corrected in time, can  waste materials.   Now I did not intentionally mess this up,  but its probably a good thing I did. It gives me a real good way to show how incredibly important dry fitting EVERY THING is. 

Ladies, I don't care what it is your working on. If  you are trying to put two or more pieces of ANY THING together permanently whether or not you think you may want the option to reuse those materials for something else later voluntarily DRY FIT IT before you add the adhesive!!!

This applies to any thing from wood, metal,  pipe, stone  etc.  Had I not dry fitted this gig to the rudder, the entire project would have become land fill material.

 I had to put a piece of the freezer paper, shiny side up,  under it to show the gap we had at the first fit.

As you can see, it was a significant gap that had the potential to  throw the alignment of the entire project off .

That one  gap spread several inches down the rudder.

  
Moral of this? NEVER , EVER,  NEGLECT THE DRY FIT STEP OF ANY PROJECT!!!!!!!





Now back to progress.



This is a dry run but the instructions are for what I will do after I apply the  polyester to the boards.  The reason for the paper is so it will NOT stick to the jig.  When I do it for real with the polyester in place I will use some cheap tape to tape the seams close.


 

Put a piece of your per SHINY SIDE DOWN on the area not already covered. Over lap is a GOOD THING!

 

.
Take the  freezer paper or what ever you are using  from under neath and fold it  around the ends and  over  the top side of the boards.  Remember to use something that will NOT stick to the adhesive. Plain old fashioned wax paper is good.   Ladies this is one of those things where skills you know you have come in real handy.  Just do not waste time trying to get it picture perfect. You cannot reasonably expect it to look as nice as a regular box that you wrap. Your paper will have wrinkles from the jig you normally would not have to deal with.  Sloppy is not going to hurt it one bit, as long as you have the air blocked when using polyester. 

Make sure it covers the ends if you have any joints so air does not get in and prevent cure.

Finish it up like a present

I added another layer of paper on top  for extra security.  I don't want the paper under neath to slip.

Add the end piece to the jig and repeat on other end.

All boards ready to be screwed into place to let it cure. Remember if you use Polyester, it  needs to not have air on it to cure properly. 

CONSUMER ALERT!!!!!

CONSUMER ALERT!!!!! READ THE  MSDS on any product if someone tells you it is the same as another product BEFORE YOU BUY!

Well I thought I was good to go on the rudder for doing the fiberglass this week or as soon as the weather warmed up. It  turns out there is some sort of mix up with the bondo samples that were  sent so it appears that completing  this part is going to have to wait until payday.  I have an email sent to the tech I have been talking to so will see what happens. People make mistakes. It's not a big earth shaking deal. If I sound ungrateful it is because THIS IS SO frustrating!

 As stated through out this blog, I have WAY to much Scot in me to waste the samples sent. I have been thinking on this. What I am going to do is use the NON marine stuff sent on the inside to laminate the boards together where water will not touch them and use the BOAT YARD on the out side.  If I do it right the inner NON marine grade bondo will never see water, so it will be fine.
 I am still going to use the Boat yard product line since it is a lot cheaper then the other fiber glassing epoxies. If it was not for price difference I'd go with the  west or systems 3. I'm going to test it and see if the rudder holds up. Why am I being so hard headed on this? It is MY BOAT we are talking about here. I'm not expecting that every one I deal with have the sailing bug but sheesh!
 
I did the research. The end user sources online ALL agree, the NON MARINE grades of bondo are TEMPORARY for marine use, same as using duck tape and a piece of cardboard wrapped in a zip lock bag or  a piece of ply wood with a water  proof  5 minute epoxy to get you to shore are temporary fixes. 


 I asked about using the tempera paint  as a substitute since finding marine grade materials is not so easy in this land locked location. According to the same gentleman who told me the samples sent are identical in nature as the boat yard line,  TEMPERA is not a good idea since there is no way to know what fillers etc they put into the tempera.  Some additives will prevent bondo products from curing! According to this same tech support person, I can use  3 ounces of the strongest universal paint tint they have at any place that tints paint such as HD or Lowe's  (for white) and it will color one gallon of Bondo  to opaque. If he is correct on this issue we have a source for cheap custom colors. The question is do I want to trust him on this after the mix up on the other or not. I HATE being put in this kind of a position!

Cold hard facts time. We are talking about a rudder, not a hull. Do I want to take the time to rebuild a new rudder if he is WRONG on this as well? I did a search for bondo colorants, I went  to their site. That site is NOT user friendly. I got tagged for a survey and I actually did it. I gave the web site related questions  1 on everything,. If I could have given zeros I would have.  After going through the process of adding a - minus sign to all the various NON relevant terms and items that came up I found NO link to colorant so I guess they are not making marine colorant any more.
Bottom line, I have entirely to much Scot in me to waste time on a product the I have reason to believe might let me down later when I need it the most.  I'm putting a lot of work and materials into this rudder and I'm not going to risk bad advice for false economy over the cost difference of proven colorant vs non marine paint colorant..

I have looked up universal marine colorants in bulk. I found nothing that was specifically mentioned as for marine use so I'm back to getting something probably from jamestown.  Granted I did not search through all the zillions of links but then I'm not into spending hours upon hours looking for this type of item.

 If I can find a cheaper source of MARINE grade tint that works with bondo I'll let you know.  If bad comes to worse and I POSITIVELY HATE this idea. I'll forgo the colorant and just paint it with marine grade paint. Chips I'll just have to  keep on top of so it does not look shabby.
Repeat after me.  It's about getting in the water!
 I decided to submit this question  to yahoo answers. 
Will see what happens.

Keel Pattern

Uploads on youtube

Finally got 6  of the videos we took of boat  uploaded to you tube. My son put them on his you tube account instead of mine but that's OK. The main thing is they are up.


 as soon as I get "The Tour" edited so it will be within Youtube" limits I'll upload that one.