Today despite a nasty cold that was keeping me from thinking straight for the last couple days I managed to get out of the house.
As it is winter and my West System hardener 205 is recommended to be used above 4 degrees Celsius I needed to devise a portable hot box to help keep the temperature slightly warmer and ensure that the epoxy gets a chance to kick. I came up with a design that should accommodate most of the glueing of scarfs, the laminating of the stems, centreboard and rudder.
I built a 32″x60″ frame wrapped in foil backed bubble wrap.
The scarfs once glued and covered by wax paper I clamped down with a block of plywood and some screws. We’ll see how it set tomorrow.
Then with a 75w bulb as the heat source mounted inside I placed the hot box over the glued scarfs to set overnight. The access hole just gets covered by a piece of plywood.
With some luck it will set nicely and I’ll be able to repeat the process for the other six pairs of strakes.