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> Garland and others discussed making sheets of stripped panels for use in
> the S&G method of construction. I understand how certain glues would tend
> to stress beyond their capacity to hold strips together on a difficult
> bend, but has anyone tried using epoxy as the glue?
Epoxy is the preferred choice for that purpose, You can lay the strips up dry and then roll epoxy over them.
> Better yet, has anyone
> paneled strips together using epoxy (assembled on a flat surface with pipe
> clamps) then coated at least one side with epoxy/glass prior to using it
> (i.e., bending it) as a panel?
Pipe clamps are a bit much for this purpose. If you are making 1/4" or less by 6" or more panels, you will get a lot of buckling.
I usually make paddle blades this way and I staple the edge pieces to my bench.
> For my hybrid - idea of stripping a panel
> for a deck on a S&G hull, I would think that if I used epoxy on the bead
> & cove joints and glassed the underside of the strip deck with one
> coat of epoxy/glass, and assemble the deck while the surface epoxy (the
> epoxy in the strip joints would already be cured solid) is still in a
> pliable curing stage, then I might avoid the problems of splitting strips.
> This assumes that the deck is not as tortured as the 16 inch radius on my
> Ches. 17 but something less so. Paul C.
Glass on one side will warp something terrible if the humidity changes.
If you bend panels green, you will have appearance problems and perhaps some structural problems.
If you build panels with an amount of wood and glass that matches the stiffness of the plywood and let it cure you should have no problems in bending it.
In any case use a nonblushing epoxy.
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Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
