Finishing the hull on my Heron

[glrose67]

Howdy, I'm into the last stages of getting my Heron restored and need some advice on wether to epoxy the whole underside of the hull, or just tape the chines with epoxy then use Aquacote to do the hull. I was going to paint the base white and do the sides in clear. I've already coated the insides of the boat with BoteCote AND I've sanded off all the old paint that was on the hull. While I'm here, should I be making the edge of the chine slightly rounded so the tape has full contact with the ply, AND i was thinking of running the tape up the sides of the transom?? Phew. I'm sure this sort of stuff has been discussed before but i was having trouble finding it.

cheers

greg
Heron Dinghy Restoration

[Jaric]

If you coat with epoxy make sure you pot all your fasteners to prevent water ingress and a minimum of three coats of epoxy inside and out. Radius your chines to make sure the tape and epoxy makes good contact. For a boat that doesn't live in the water paint is a good solution and will offer good longevity particularly if the boat is stored dry and ventilated when not in use. Taping the edges of the transom is a good idea for extra strength.

[Boatmik]

Howdy ...

The epoxy inside the boat is a little wasted if you don't epoxy the outside as well.

That is the normal plan as it prevents the boat from taking up water. In the Sabres they found that careful building with full epoxy made the boat about a kg over the minimum weight but that the boat wouldn't take up weight over the sailing year or if a bit of water was inside. Non racer's are not interested in weight ... but less moisture in the structure means less maintenance as the surface for the paint will be more stable.

The epoxying of the outside can be done the same time as the glass coating. One advantage with the varnished sides is the epoxy will already be filling the grain so you can get away with much less varnish. Three coats would be enough over three coats of quality epoxy. And all the epoxy coats can be done in one day as the next coat can go on when the previous one has gone tacky.

However if wanting to store the boat outside ... I would put the full six or more coats of epoxy over varnish to protect the epoxy from UV light ... so there would not be a nett labour saving there.

HOpe this helps
Michael Storer

[PAR]

. . . I would put the full six or more coats of epoxy over varnish to protect the epoxy from UV light ... so there would not be a nett labour saving there . . .

I'm reasonably sure Mik intended to say six or more coats of varnish over the epoxy, for UV protection. I'll second this and his other comments, except to say, if stored outside, 6 coats of varnish (or less) over your brightly finished hull, would be a minimum level of protection from UV, particularity in harsh environments. I'm not sure how nasty it might be in Yarraville, but you can't have too much UV protection in sub tropical and tropical climates. Each year you'll sand off one completely shot coat and mostly through the one below it, when redoing the finish, so . . .

[glrose67]

Thanks for the comments guys - looks like I'll be putting on 3 coats of epoxy as she'll be living inside!

cheers