Pamet FS14

[OrangeQuest]

That many spring clamps I would recommend a cheap plastic box to keep them all in. Then you just grab the box and go to where you need them.

If you put one every 6" on a 14' boat that is 26 to 28 clamps per side. If you do both sides at a time, one layer, then it isn't to many. But I don't think you will need that many either. But having more than you need is not as bad as not having enough when you do need them. And to keep the hand grip sides clean have a helper do the clamps. Somehow you will always grab a few with wet epoxy on your gloves that will transfer to the clamp. A little tape wrapped around the tips help with keeping that end clean but putting tape on 60 clamps is very time consuming and sometimes you have to dig tape out of your mix. My opinion is the more stuff from past projects that are on your clamps the more experience they have.

[VT_Jeff]

Regarding clamps. If you actually want to buy 60 spring clamps, power to ya, But I think it's way overkill for this. You can make simple U-clamps/wedges out of scrap plywood for this purpose, you don't need a ton of tension. You can also just use screws and fill the holes afterwards. Just food for thought.

To use screws, make some big washers. start with,say, a 3 foot long strip of scrap plywood or solid wood about the same width as your rail. Cover one side and edges with packing tape. Drill a hole every 2 inches or so through the tape side. hole should be just smaller than the head of your screws. Cut the strip into pieces. Now you have a bunch of "washers" you can use to clamp the rail to the boat.

[cape man]

and then there's this...

[VT_Jeff]

and then there's this...

YES!

[PametBW]

Wow!
Thanks for all the clamp ideas and examples and for the welcome Cape Man.
Improvising is something I truly admire and love to dabble in when I have confidence. Both the pvc clamp idea from OrangeQuest and screw/fender washer idea from Jeff are like genius ideas - and I already have the perfect box for holding small clamps (from the 6 pack of boxes for spreading epoxy with a roller)
Before I read the build thread, my day started with a trip to the store to buy a pile of clamps.
By the time I got into the shop and sanded away the dangling fiberglass from the top of the sheer, the echoes of something Jeff wrote sounded more and more like wisdom. At this age, I am hoping to acquire the trait of learning from other people's mistakes (and experiences) instead of learning by repeating their mistakes...
Bottom line, the strips that I cut for the purpose of making rails looked very dry. Although I don't have personal experience with epoxy "dry suck", I don't want to take this apart to reassemble it because I skipped an important step.
As much as I wanted to get started with gluing the strips on the boat, I decided to mix up a batch of epoxy and paint the strips so they will be dry (to the touch) and wet (for reacting with the gel-magic) all at the same time. I swear I have learned more vocabulary trying to build a boat than most kids learn in their first year of studying a foreign language...
Thanks again for all the help!

[cape man]

Precoating all wood with epoxy is a must for this build method. Takes an extra step and if you wait more than a day to glue or lay down glass it takes another step of sanding to get a mechanical bond but the strength and comfort you achieve is worth it. You can visualize the issue by seeing how much neat epoxy the wood soaks up.

[PametBW]

Thanks Cape Man - learning is always fun and the teaching done on this forum is the best kind of learning.
To my mind it reveals aspects of the world that make perfect sense, but is mostly stuff I could never have thought of on my own.

[VT_Jeff]

At the risk of over-analyzing, I do want to point out that Gel-magic does not require pre-coating according to their instructions, and also that gel-magic, per my understanding, is not compatible with MarinEpoxy.

[Dan_Smullen]

At the risk of over-analyzing, I do want to point out that Gel-magic does not require pre-coating according to their instructions, and also that gel-magic, per my understanding, is not compatible with MarinEpoxy.

Definitely some benefits to using the out of the can solution.

If you mix epoxy and wood flour, I recommend thickening until "almost not soupy anymore" with wood flour, then thickening further to peanut butter with cabosil. It sounds more tedious than it is, and with some practice you will recognize how too much wood flour will make the mix too dry, but the silica adds thickness without adding dryness.

Take a minute too to clamp a run of rub rail in place, and then back up and take a look to get an idea of what the shear line will look like. This is a good time to make any adjustments if you care. It doesn't necessarily need to be flush with the edge of the side panel. That's all going to get filled in and planed fair later.

[PametBW]

Trying to be well-set-up before attaching the first layer of the rub rail gave me some confidence, but there were still a lot of unknowns. It was a little unnerving to see Gel Magic for the first time and be using it to permanently (I hope) attach a piece of rub rail to the boat.
Dan's recommendation of clamping the rail in place and really looking at it was a really good insight and a useful step for me. His suggestion to see how it looks and to move it according to my preference was a novel idea to me; I have simply been trying to be like an assembly-line worker and not mess anything up.
At any rate, I decided that it would go best if I ran the rail below the sheer-line at the bow and make it flush further aft.

r rail layer 1 strbrd side bow.jpg (121.97 KiB) Viewed 708 times

r rail layer 1 port side bow.jpg (130.95 KiB) Viewed 708 times

The camera angle shows this less well (it also might not line up perfectly with the starboard side...).
While the first layer seemed to go pretty well, I definitely had some concerns:
- After initially clamping it pretty tightly at the bow I worried that I might have squeezed out too much gel magic; I had read about the dangers of starving it for epoxy, but don't know how to gauge and find the sweet spot.
- The temperature in the yard dipped into the mid 30's overnight so I ran the space heater under the hull but it felt very cold in the boat shop this morning when I went out to take pics. I left the doors open to let in sunlight - but the actual temperatures and how they will impact the gel magic are big unknowns to me.
- After finishing up yesterday I realized that I had sanded the surface to get it prep it for the adhesive but had failed to wipe it down well. If I could go back, I would probably wipe it with a light rag dampened with 98% alcohol. I don't really know what solvent would have been recommend and I don't think there was a lot of residue left over from the sanding, but am definitely kicking myself for neglecting this step.
Although I have never done this before and am not really sure what other mistakes I made, overall, I like the way the rail looks:

r rail layer 1 strbrd mid.jpg (112.96 KiB) Viewed 708 times

r rail layer 1 port mid.jpg (116.2 KiB) Viewed 708 times

rub rail layer 1 rear strbrd .jpg (132.59 KiB) Viewed 708 times

rub rail layer 1 rear port.jpg (116.51 KiB) Viewed 708 times

One thing that went really well was to follow Jeff's advice to cut a 45 degree angle into the rails where they will butt up against each other. That was a great idea - Thanks Jeff!
The last concern is a small gap between a rough spot at the where the starboard sheer and the transom meet. I don't know if this is something that needs my attention now. I bought some of the syringes that Jeff uses to fill voids and am considering trying to get some gel magic into one and then trying to squirt it into that spot. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or advice about that, or anything else.
Here is the gap in a top view and side view:

r rail gap strbrd transom topview.jpg (75.65 KiB) Viewed 708 times

r rail gap strprd transom sideview.jpg (65.71 KiB) Viewed 708 times

My plan is to use this last warm day (for now) to get another layer (or even both of them) on before it gets cold. I am going to continue with gel magic, although it has crossed my mind that epoxy might be a good alternative.
Thanks again!