Sunday 22 February 2015

Stringent matter....

.... the stringers that is!
Work on glueing the stringers has started. I decided not to screw them into the frames as the designer suggests because my frames are made out of a simple thickness of ply so there is not enough material for the screw to bite into. For the same reason the risk of splitting the frame would be high.


I have rather used thickened epoxy and short lengths of glass tape set in epoxy to bind the stringers to the frames and keep them securely in place. The result is very satisfactory.... tough, sturdy and no screw heads to negotiate when beveling stringers and planks.

I followed fellow pathfinder builders lead and split the stringers in half for short lengths at strategic locations where the bend was such that things were getting a little too strained for my likely . Alos the setting up required liberal use of powerful clamps ....


I will stop at two stringers each side to allow dry fitting the bunkflat and seat tops before carrying on glueing the remaining top two stringers each side...


Monday 16 February 2015

Sticky Ketchup

Here is an idea I had once completely annoyed of handling the big cans of epoxy and their fiddling pumps for mixing small batches of resin.
I received a brand new 5l 2 pack epoxy system for Christmas (what better gift one can get?) and since the cans are full to the brim it is a bit of a handful sometimes to prepare small batches of the magic potion.

Therefore I cleaned up two bottles of Heinz' best and filled them with resin and hardener (one each, separately!)

It makes for much more handy pouring over the yogurt pot on the scales. Also these bottles have a drip stop rubbery seal that works marvel to avoid spillage and the odd drop that escapes and makes the workbench forever sticky.

My son burst into loud laughter the first time he saw them saying  "Dad look!!! blue and yellow ketchup!!"

... I might have to add warning signs on them!!!