Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #2-4B . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

Back in south Florida, a popular wall treatment consisted of slinging clumps of watered-down vinyl joint compound at a wall, then smoothing it with a large flat metal plate.
It was called: Knock Down and was/is a popular wall texture.
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Applying epoxy resin to the wood on the SCAMP'S hull, caused all kinds of drips as the epoxy flowed, before it finally set up.
I originally resigned myself to doing Herculean amounts of sanding and indeed, did so after each coat of epoxy . . . . .
 . . . . . .  at first.
With successive coats I realized the futility of this endeavor and decided to marshal my time and resources to places where it counts, such as the outer hull and bottom and the inside sole and sides and "veranda" of the boat.
Still a monumental amount of sanding, but not nearly so much as sanding all the interior lockers and cuddy compartments, would have entailed.
Was just shooting for no particularly rough, or sharp, surfaces.
After all, does a fender or a dock line, REALLY care what kind of surface, it is resting against?    Not exactly "The Princess and the Pea", Territory, there.
Painting over all those epoxy drips, now looks like all kinds of paint drips, but here's my current philosophy:
I simply consider it to be: "Nautical Knock-Down"!! 
I'm not after a Boat Show Queen type finish; a workboat-like finish will be most adequate.
I can further justify/rationalize it, by noting that I have crawled around inside the bowels of multi-million dollar Yacht Innards, wiring up electronics gadgets and seen THE EXACT SAME THING!! 
All gleaming, mirror finish, white gelcoat on the outside; all drippy walls, with exposed fiberglass roving (sometimes, not even painted over), deep on the inside. 
So, HAH!!! 

This week's progress:
Big difference from the splotchy first coat of EasyPoxy paint . . . .
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To the final ice-cream truck white coverage of the third coat.
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Zoom in, for a glimpse of Brennan's "Nautical Knock-Down".    (Patent Pending.)

Started getting "Snow-Blindness" while painting the insides, for the second and third time! 
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Stripped all the masking tape.
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Next step is to prepare the seat tops, since the interior compartments are now ready to receive them.
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After carefully labeling the seats, to avoid doing anything DUMB!!    Like, gluing the hatch doublers on the wrong side of the bench seats.
Don't laugh!    Other guys have done it!    And is why I read every SCAMP build blog, so obsessively.
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After all, I don't need to replicate their mistakes, when I can make so many Brand-NEW Mistakes, all on my own! 

Applied the first coat of epoxy:
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As much as humanly possible, for the rest of this project all sub-assemblies will be horizontally oriented while applying epoxy and paint to avoid where possible, all those infernal drips! 

Glued the doublers for the hatches and used every clamp I owned.
Again.
Ya know, I buy clamps at every flea market and thrift store, whenever I come across them and I STILL keep coming up short, on the next step in the project.
Another of Life's Imponderables. 
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The next morning, I removed all the clamps and sanded the hatches smooth(er).
I seem to be a Major Slob, with epoxy glue. 
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I also sanded the rectangular hatches, although they are not as critical, since the plastic hatch covers will hide a multitude of rough-finish Sins. 

2nd Coat of epoxy.
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Gotta love the third coat! 
Ignore all the escaped chip brush bristles.    I've discovered it's far easier to just sand them off, than to try and snag them, while applying epoxy. 
Or to use more expensive brushes! 
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Flipped the bench seats over and used the hatches to drill the mounting holes.
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Then over-drilled them, to fill with epoxy.
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Taped over the areas where it will be glued to the bulkheads/cleats, so the rest can be painted.
Doubled up the tape over the over-drilled holes on the hatch doubler, ever since the Leaky Hole Experience! 
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After first coat of epoxy on seat tops.
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And skipping ahead, to the third coat.
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In between coats while all that was curing, I turned my attention to an on-going motor mount project.
Marked the holes for drilling, in the over-drilled epoxy-filled holes.
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And employed a Forstner bit the same size as the bolt washers, on the drill press, to counter sink the holes for the bolts.
Finished, by drilling the holes all the way through for the 3/8"-16 bolts.
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Like so.
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Turns out, all the motor clamp spacing for motors that would logically be used on a boat this size, are generally on 3¼" centers.
The clamping plates on different motors, vary between 1¼" and 2"  in diameter.
So I got a slightly larger hole-saw, which should accommodate different motor clamp types, and sawed ¼" deep cuts and then routed out the wood to a uniform ¼" depth.
This should help keep the clamps from drifting enough to slide off the mount, by holding them captive.
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Applied two layers of 6oz. fiberglass tape to the sides and two coats of epoxy, on the motor clamp indentations.
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Using the hole saw that made those circles as a template, I cut four circles out of fiberglass and placed two each, in the cutouts to protect the wood from the clamp plates.
The goal is: No exposed wood, anywhere. 
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This was basically a make-work project, for using up the surplus epoxy, from coating the bench seats.
I generally mix in either 4 or 8 ounce batches for convenience, and the seats were in a "half-way' mix.

3rd coat of epoxy; 4th coat will be graphite-infused epoxy.
Motor mount side
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Mounting bracket side.
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Finished the weekend by applying some primer to the transom.
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We've had amazing paint/epoxy weather for April, and I'm trying to exploit it to the utmost.
Since I still refuse to slop through steps for the sake of expedience, bringing it to the Cedar Key Small Boat Meet, the 1st weekend in May, is fast becoming but a distant dream,    as is the Fl 120, in the third week of  May . . . .
 . . . . . . . .BUT!!    There's always the BEER CRUISE, in June!! 
Maybe. 

Charles Brennan

[Spot]

Thanks for the update CB.
+1 for having small projects ready for leftover epoxy.

I recently did the same project twice in plywood, coated with epoxy + West Barrier Coat additive.
Project has 6 major faces running 5 degrees off vertical, so great potential to 'slump'.

try 1 was epoxy + 422 and it ran.
try 2 was epoxy + 422 + fumed silica and it did not run.

The epoxy I used is s-l-o-w cure. The caveat is that the silica needs to be sieved and/or well-mixed or you'll get lumps in the gravy.

Something to file for the future.