Happy new year. Everybody reading this blog needs to find a nice wood working project for the year. What better choice than a boat. It doesn't have to be a large boat; a plywood dingy or day sailer would be a nice project easily completed in one year.
This year will see the completion of the hull construction. With a little luck, I'll have her flipped upright by the end of the year. Wish me luck.
Here is a tool I designed to help warm the epoxy on cold days to make it easier to dispense and apply. Even on days where the temperature will stay above the minimum, the epoxy can be difficult to use. So I have made a wooden box for the epoxy with a warmer in the bottom. The warmer is a simple 20 watt light bulb in a copper box.
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| A simple wooden box with a compartment in the bottom lined with copper. |
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| Here is the copper compartment with the light bulb sitting on the bottom. |
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| A copper top to separate the light bulb compartment from the epoxy. Probably not necessary but why not. It will help protect the light bulb at least. |
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| The gallon of epoxy with pump sits right in the box. A hole in the bottom front lets light out so I know if the bulb is working |
I was able to use the hot box over the weekend. Friday night I turned the lamp on. Saturday afternoon, once the temperature got into the upper 50s (10 C), the epoxy was warm and flowed easily. This significantly reduced the time I spent pumping the epoxy out of the can. Of course I still won't use the epoxy if the temperature gets below 40 F (4.4 C). After making this box I actually found a nice article on the West System web site about cold weather bonding. It is worth a read: http://www.westsystem.com/ss/cold-temperature-bonding/
