10 things...polystyrene foam
8. Polystyrene foam is evil
Neither of my first two boats had any built-in flotation. For a variety
of reasons, among them my 13 month old son Fletcher (a good name for a
possible future sailor, don't you think?) I wanted this boat to have
some. I was able to get some thick (about 4 inches or 10 cm)
polystyrene insulation panels for free from a friend in the construction
trade. So far, so good.
Cutting the stuff (with a hand saw) was a big mess. Little bits and
pieces blowing around everywhere, the stuff so brittle that it broke in
places, hard to trim with any exactness. I am still finding little
white balls in the yard near the workshop. Ugh!
When it came time to glue the panels together, I didn't have enought
epoxy to do the job right. Most of the other glues that I could find
ate the stuff, most of the others didn't hold well, and the foam itself
was so weak that the rest weren't much good either. Lots of cursing and
frustration till I got together some rather mishapen blocks to go under
the end decks.
To aattach the blocks to the boat, I glued them up under the end decks
with the last of my epoxy. Seemed OK, but came back a day later to find
one of the blocks sitting in the bottom of the boat. Reglued with
exterior wall paste, seemed fine, still game unglued after first time on
the water. Glue held, but foam sheared.
I know that I wouldn't have had all this trouble with better quality
foam and more epoxy, but I think nonetheless that in the future I'll
either build in watertight compartments or use lightweight
non-watertight bulkheads to secure loose flotation (packing peanuts,
plastic bottles, bubble wrap, etc.) in doubled plastic bags.
--
Matthew, Agnès & Fletcher Peillet-Long
Saint-Priest, France
Boats, planes, baby and more!
Des bateaux, des avions, le bébé, et encore plus!
http://www.geocities.com/owlnmole
Neither of my first two boats had any built-in flotation. For a variety
of reasons, among them my 13 month old son Fletcher (a good name for a
possible future sailor, don't you think?) I wanted this boat to have
some. I was able to get some thick (about 4 inches or 10 cm)
polystyrene insulation panels for free from a friend in the construction
trade. So far, so good.
Cutting the stuff (with a hand saw) was a big mess. Little bits and
pieces blowing around everywhere, the stuff so brittle that it broke in
places, hard to trim with any exactness. I am still finding little
white balls in the yard near the workshop. Ugh!
When it came time to glue the panels together, I didn't have enought
epoxy to do the job right. Most of the other glues that I could find
ate the stuff, most of the others didn't hold well, and the foam itself
was so weak that the rest weren't much good either. Lots of cursing and
frustration till I got together some rather mishapen blocks to go under
the end decks.
To aattach the blocks to the boat, I glued them up under the end decks
with the last of my epoxy. Seemed OK, but came back a day later to find
one of the blocks sitting in the bottom of the boat. Reglued with
exterior wall paste, seemed fine, still game unglued after first time on
the water. Glue held, but foam sheared.
I know that I wouldn't have had all this trouble with better quality
foam and more epoxy, but I think nonetheless that in the future I'll
either build in watertight compartments or use lightweight
non-watertight bulkheads to secure loose flotation (packing peanuts,
plastic bottles, bubble wrap, etc.) in doubled plastic bags.
--
Matthew, Agnès & Fletcher Peillet-Long
Saint-Priest, France
Boats, planes, baby and more!
Des bateaux, des avions, le bébé, et encore plus!
http://www.geocities.com/owlnmole