[Public-list] fiberglassing & backer plates

[Roger L Kingsland]

Patty,

I used to sail with a guy who built his boat from an empty Morgan 41' hull (he had to add temporary bulkheads to trailer the hull from Florida to Western PA) and swore by phenolic Micarta for backer plates.  It is easier to work and lighter than metal and has much greater compressive strength than wood (risk with plywood is tensile loads on the fasteners may cause washers to crush the plywood thereby loosening the connection).  I have also seen the stuff used on deck under stanchion bases on older boats where the deck had gotten a little "loose."  It works like wood and, I believe, can be painted.     

Relative to epoxy vs. resin, I have used tons (almost literally) of the West System epoxy with pumps that install on the epoxy and hardener cans.  One pump from each provides correct mix ratio.  No measuring necessary and it's easy to do small jobs.  For bigger jobs, you have to be careful you don't loose track of the number of pumps extracted from each can (don't ask how I know).  West also has a bunch of powder additives for various jobs and some great technical literature.  I understand, however, that there are other quality products on the market that are less expensive.

Best of luck with the resurrection of Timbuktu/Phoenix.  Since it sounds like she technically sank, no worries with renaming her; although we know you aren't superstitious about that stuff.  Now might be a good time to consider the message board approach (see below).

Roger

9/14/03
Patty,

I like the idea of a monthly name change, that way you can get a sense of
what shows well on the boat and matches your mood.  Just a couple of
thoughts, not on the name but methods to enable changing it.

Several of us have boat names in obscure foreign languages.  Me, Polynesian
("Mahina Manu"), Gary Baker, Viking Runes (I am not quite sure a rune is a
language bit it sure sounds foreign) ("Sowelu"); Yves Parenteau, Cree
("Chiwan"); Jon Littlefield,  Miwok ("Metikla").  I think we all realize
that, with these kinds of names, we can just make up what they mean.  In
fact even though Jon "swears" Metikla" means, "Reaching a hand underwater
while trying to catch a white suckerfish" I strongly suspect he is pulling
our leach chords.  Although the his translation could fall into the
"stranger than fiction" category, it would not surprise me if it varies
according to whatever odd thing he is thinking about at the time.  Last time
it was probably something like, "smelling breath of bear while eating
buffalo burger with relish (that unexpectedly turned out to be one of those
double meaning things)."  So why not pick some nice sounding word, claim it
is Swahili, and just make it up as you go along.  You could even paint the
name on the transom with small print under it saying "ask me what it means
this month."

Other possibilities.  Slots on the transom to hold different "name boards."
If we all get them and share, it would be like boat swapping only we would
still know where the dust pan was.

Of course the ultimate would be a moving message board (smaller version of
the Times Square thing).  Then the lowly boat name could graduate from a
static, often obscure statement to a dynamic message with true, up to the
minute, editorial content.  Imagine the possibilities;  "(Lee Ann went to)
Timbuktu,"  "Skedaddle (has Catalina 27s for breakfast),"  "(follow me to)
Terra Sub Aqua,"  "(if you follow me, I can't) Steer Naked," "(drop your
anchor) Somewhere Else," "Plus Ultra (is not a tooth paste),"  "Imagination
(gives me a headache)," "Encore, (encore, encore, encore....),"  "Yes Dear
(I did clean the head),"  "(if I) Don't Stop (now, I will drive you and me
crazy)."

Roger

   
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