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Give it time!

September 08, 2022 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It passed 12h since I clamped the strake so I rushed into boatshed to remove clamps and prepare the hull for another strake. It was close to 0 C at night, went up to 15 C now so I was quite certain the glue was cured. Epoxy rests left in a mug on my workbench were hard and cured.

I removed all clamps and turned the hull on the other side. Placed a new strake and started dry-fitting it when I noticed that gain at the stem looks a bit too wide. I was very proud of myself yesterday but now it looked like a sloppy job.

To my horror I found that epoxy in the stem area is not yet fully cured so the plank could spring a few millimeters and it would eventually open the joint should I not notice that.

While rolling the hull back into steady position and quickly gathering clamps I was wondering why it happened. I mixed one batch of epoxy for the entire joint so it is not the case of improper ratio.

With a blow of wind outside it came to me instantly - stem part of the boat is close to shed’s gate. Temperature here is lower than deep inside, where the kerosene stove sits. It is as simple as that - with low night temperatures I need to leave broader margins for glue curing time.

So there she is, clamped back to fully cure before I start on the next plank.

Let’s call it process pause and not try to speed up things too much.
It ain’t lead nowhere.

September 08, 2022 /Lukasz Kumanowski
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