|
Thanks for all the practical advice (and sympathy), armed with which I persevered and finished the task of bedding in four shortish lengths of keelstrip (won't go into details as to why four; has to do with shape/structure etc of Trouper's bottom), which are also bronze screwed. Funny thing this home boatbuilding, at least for us one-or two-off builders. By the time you've finished a task which you won't be doing again, you've more or less mastered it. However I'll be quite glad not to have to wallow in Sikaflex again, not extensively anyway - that spreading sense of panic as the black gloop gets everywhere.
Thought I'd feed back briefly, in case it's of any help/interest. Jeremy, I tried isopropanol and meths as thinners: my paint finish, or at least its glossiness, didn't like either. I found white spirit worked best.
Thanks for the credit card tip, Ian. Once I had worked out what a sharp obtuse angle was (no, I couldn't have described it any better) I was away. It wiped off handily on my solvent soaked cloth.
I may have made a small contribution to SMT (= Sikaflex Management Technology), which I pass on in case no-one else has thought of it (they probably have). The more manageable and docile the bead of Sikaflex is, the less the resultant gloopery. An industrial mastic gun is mega-unwieldy, and once you get a bead going from the nozzle, it doesn't want to stop - result, lots of unwanted black stuff in all the wrong places (one could re-write the fairy story of the magic porridge-pot). Solution - turn a 50 ml plastic disposable syringe (mine have the so-called catheter nozzle -don't ask) into a mini mastic gun. Pull out the plunger, fill with Sikaflex from the industrial howitzer, replace plunger, voila! Small, handy, right sized bead, and a slight pull back on the plunger gives instant stoppage of the bead. For a big job, more than one syringe could be pre-loaded: I used about 1 1/2, though it would have been two if I had had my brainwave before the initial mess which provoked this thread.
I have become a great enthusiast for plastic syringes - not just this idea, but for mixing smaller amounts of epoxy (for which I usually use 10 ml syringes) than the pumps deliver; more recently for mixing small amounts (down to a few ml at a time if needed) of two-pot paints; and for drawing up and moving volumes of liquid from one container to another without messy tipping. They don't always have to be discarded after one use: the ones I use for epoxy mixing (one each for resin and hardener) have been re-used for yonks, ditto for measuring and adding, respectively, 'Compound B' and thinners to batches of two-pot paint mixes. Just keep the relevant syringes standing in labelled jars. There are several medical supplies sites which sell them. The 50 ml size work out at about 80p a time if you get 25+. Compares favourably with (eg) disposable paint brushes. I do rather cringe at all this 'disposable' culture, but it ain't half handy! Sorry, getting carried away, I'm sure everyone was there first.
On CF tubes, I do agree about the Canvey Island lot. They seem to go out of their way not to do business with you. I found windsurfer masts confusing because WSers talk a strange language about flexibility etc. I was looking for an alternative to the aluminium mast which was supplied to me (and, it occurs to me, is available if anyone has a use for it -?!) when I converted Cadenza (my Swallowboats Storm Petrel) to junk rig (no, I won't go on about it:once bitten twice shy and all that) . My 'advisers' were used to really big rigs, and the mast was massively over-engineered for my purposes. It weighs about 20 kgs, and poor Cadenza, who is very tender, just couldn't cope. Her CF mast weighs about 4 1/2 kgs, and is brilliant. I believe Jeremy will confirm that CF has all the right attributes for an unstayed mast. I 'cheated' (ie no use to anyone else, sorry) getting my two CF tubes, in that Matt Newland of Swallowboats, as a personal favour to me as a customer, got me two (64 mm diam I think) from the firm - Dutch, called something like Prince Tech - he uses for his Bay Raiders etc. NOT cheap!! CF is pricey, no two ways about it. But I do think it's extraordinary there isn't a sailing-friendly UK-based firm to which the likes of us can turn for reasonable market-rate CF tubing.
Enough, no more, 'tis not so sweet now as it was before (the Bard)
Michael
|
Locked
