which gaps are we talking about here? and no, don't use a puddle of 'construction adhesive' for a filler.....
The ones in between the ribs. Usually people fill them in with self leveling concrete sealer, but that is too heavy. I'm trying to find something that I can just pour in.
Too heavy? Have you water lined it yet? Most boats will need the ballast to run at their scale water line.
I haven't done waterlines yet. I'm waiting until I get everything in her before doing that. I'm afraid I might poke holes all through my sides. I think I've found something that will work. I think Mike M used this on his Verite build. http://www.lowes.com/pd_73902-63-E771_4294934474+4294961757_40?productId=3143485 Thoughts?
Not recently. I think the last time I did it, she weighed about 3 1/2 pounds, but I don't think I had everything in her. Tomorrow I'll weigh her.
Ok, so here are the weights. Bare Hull...2.74 lb. Hull with electronics...4.58 lb. Hull with electronic plus fittings*...4.88 lb. *These were some brass tee fittings and some other stuff to make up the weight for the missing guns. I was also looking at Mike's Bearn build. The Bearn is 3.68 inches shorter than Suffren, but she is wider by 4.16 inches. The depth of the spaces was 3/8 inches on Bearn. On my cruiser most are less that 1/4 inch. Mike only used 18oz of sealer on Bearn. Do you think I have enough weight left over to use the sealer?
Rather than guessing, what I would do is sheet the hull with duct tape, put everything in it, and float it in your bath tub. I think you probably have some wiggle room on the weight but why guess? And this way you get a better feeling for how the weight is distributed inside the hull if you want/need to make any changes. As to using concrete sealer, it is not going to add any meaningful structural strength or provide water tight integrity over the long term. There are much better ways to get those things in your ship. When thin it dries much faster and doesn't really add all that much weight. When thick it takes weeks to fully cure. You can also fill the cavity with foam and then add the sealer on top if you want/need a lighter fill volume.
If youre worried about the sealer weight, fill the voids with blocks of styrofoam or balsa before using the sealer to cover. Just try to keep the blocking even or you'll have strange balance issues.
Actually, the blue painter's tape does pretty well, it doesn't have to be duct tape. I think it was Mike Butts that blue-taped a hull and drove it around my pool.
Ok, so here are some photos of what I got done. It isn't much, but a lot of it was experimenting. Even though I said that I didn't want to use foam, I ended using it anyway. After gluing the foam in, I used a hot rod to cut it flush with the 1" below the Wl and the water channel. To make it nice and smooth I laid a layer of tough, fibrous material and saturated it with Tite-Bond. Another view. With the Tite-Bond coating. Do you guys think this will be OK for the rest of the ship?
I wouldn't recommend Titebond as a sealer. First, it isnt meant to be one and using a product for uses it REALLY isn't designed tends to lead to problems. Second, water will get between the glue and the wood of your hull if you do it that way, so you really should seal the wooden hull before layering foam and what not on top. Personally I like concrete sealer but would just lay it on top of foam as I like the self leveling/non-skid surface and a thin coat doesn't weigh very much.
Ok, like I said, it was just experimenting. How thick should the layer of SLCS be? If I lay the foam level with the top of the ribs and fill the rest with sealer, it would give a layer of about an 1/8".
Seal your hull first. Its easy now and a pain later. Then fill the holes. A silicone glue brush works wonders for applying epoxy everywhere. Just a thin coat is all that is needed. I would lay sealer about 1/8" thick. You can get it thinner but its a pain. Also you can spread it around with a knife if needed. Its thick and only sort of flows so you can get it high on the outside and lower on the inside if you wanted.
Ok, so I'll start working on sealing everything. I'm not sure if I have enough epoxy to put a thin coat on everything, so I'm wondering if spar varnish will work for anything that I miss?
Spar varnish is fine for sealing. Make sure it s good and dry before you place anything on top of it though. What ever sealer you use, it doesnt need to be thick, just a thin coating will do. Also those silicone glue brushes work amazing for spreading sealer around.
Ok, the varnish that I have says that I should apply 3 coats of varnish for a effective seal. Should one be good or should I follow the instructions?
