Building the Squirt

Encapsulating the Frames

My next task was to encapsulate the frames using epoxy. This helps protect the wood from moisture and rot. Everything I've read says 2-3 coats, with 3 coats being ideal. I'm using the MAS epoxy resin and Low-Tox hardener sold on the Glen-L website. I've read great things about that epoxy so ordered the MAS instead of Glen-L's poxy-shield. I thought encapsulating the frames before I mount them to the building form would be a fairly simple task...I was wrong.

The First coat went on without any problems. There was quite a bit of bubbling but this is normal and a good sign that the epoxy has seeped into the wood pours and the air has surfaced to the top. I applied the first coat at night to some of the frames and the next morning it was still quite tacky. My plan was to allow each coat to cure then sand it and apply another coat, but with the cure time of this mixture that would take forever. So, I set up some heat lamps and that really sped things up!

I finished 3 coats on one side of frame #1 and it turned out pretty nice (see below). After that though every other time I applied the epoxy I started to get orange peel/fisheye in the coatings.

Pictured above was the worst area I had and that was after it cured. I tried everything to prevent this! Even though the glen-L website stated this epoxy would not form amine blush I'm pretty sure it was. After a coat of epoxy cured it would feel slightly oily on top. Amine blush is a substance formed after epoxy cures and must be wiped off prior to sanding or recoating. So I wiped it down with warm soapy water, even tried ammonia/water on some pieces. Then let it dry and sanded it and cleaned it thoroughly with denatured alcohol. When I applied another coat I would continue to get the same problem. I even continued to brush over it with my foam brush until I surpassed the pot life of the epoxy. I went onto the boat building forum and asked around and found some other people with the same problem but there was no solution to a fix other than to just keep trying at it.

My next thought was to try to recoat it while the previous coat was still tacky instead of letting each coat cure. This will actually form a strong chemical bond between coats where as it only forms a mechanical bond when allowing it to cure and then sanding before each coat. I also tried thinner coats. This worked out with a nice even coating however the finish turned out flat instead of glossy.

I then applied a thin coat and two thicker coats hoping that that would give it the gloss appearance. Again, this is all done wet on wet. No more curing between coats. The result below was acceptable but still had some areas the epoxy acted like it didn't want to stick too. At this point I decided to contact MAS and tell them what was going on because it's making me go crazy. In short their response was that their low viscosity resin/low-tox hardener is only for laminating and adhesion and not recommended for coating. Also, that it does form amine blush between coats. Hmmm...not what I was led to believe before purchasing this product.

So now that I have spent weeks on trying to encapsulate the frames I decide to order a different brand of epoxy. One that also is not suppose to form amine blush...so they say. I decide to go with System Three SilverTip. People swear by this stuff so I'm going to finish encapsulating with it and compare. Now I just have to wait for it to ship.

In the meantime, I decide now would be a good time to start making my sheers. I've already got them cut down to the proper size I just need to make them the proper length. The boat plans call for it to be 12 feet long but since I'm making my squirt 11ft instead of the 10 ft the plans call for I will make my sheers 13 ft long. I did not have mahogany boards long enough to cut a solid piece so I will join two pieces together using a scarf joint.

The squirt plans came with instructions on how to make butt-joints and scarf-joints for plywood. It should work out the same for my sheers. The instructions state that the angle should be a 1:10 or 1:12 ratio. I decided to go with 1:12. Basically you multiply the thickness of the board by 12 and that gives you the length of the scarf joint. In this case my board is 5/8 inch thick multiply that by 12 and you get 7.5 inches. I marked off 7.5 inches from the end and used a straight edge to draw the angle from that line to the bottom of the end of the board. I then used my jig saw to make a rough cut and used my sander to get it down to the line.