Styrofoam Safe Polyester Resins

We are excited to announce that we are now carrying specialized polyester resins that are compatible with Styrofoam, Duratec StyroSafe and StyroShield.

Styrofoam is widely available in various sizes and relatively inexpensive which often makes it attractive to use for modeling (although it shapes rather poorly) however it melts when it comes in contact with polyester resin systems and requires typically more expensive epoxy resins. StyroSafe and StyroShield now make it possible to use polyester resins directly over Styrofoam.

You might ask why would one want to use polyester resin over Styrofoam? Sometimes it is a matter of cost, it can be less expensive to build up a part out of polyester resin and the properties of epoxies aren't needed. Other times it can be an issue of complexity; by using StyroShield you can laminate complex shapes using chopstrand mat, which often works very well for complex curvatures.

StyroSafe is a polyester based resin system that will not melt styrofoam. This can be used as the primary layer against the foam and topped over with other polyester resin or used as the primary laminating resin. StyroSafe like relatively warm temperatures and thicker laminates to cure. Please note that StyroSafe doesn't contain enough styrene to dissolve the binder in chopstrand mat, so applications where mat is being used right off will want to use StyroShield.

StyroShield is a spray on material that is designed to be sprayed over Styrofoam to create a barrier that will allow laminating over Styrofoam with a standard polyester resin. This is recommended for projects that will be covered over with chopstrand mat.

Call for more information on these products 509.493.3464

StyroSafe and StyroShield are registered trademarks of Hawkeye Industries, Styrofoam is a registered trademark of Dow Chemical.

Cheap Clamps!

After we got the EZ Skiff glued up last week, I went ahead and put the gunwales on over the weekend. In the process of doing so it became very clear that I didn't have enough clamps to clamp them in place while the epoxy cured.

I had seen in Ted Moores' Book "Kayaks You Can Build" a side bar about making clamps out of PVC pipe then recently when I was visiting with Mike Snook at Merry Wherry (Merrywherry.com)he was raving to me about the PVC pipe clamps he had just made and was using to install the gunwales on a rowing wherry he was making up. So instead of going down to the hardware store and dropping a small fortune on more clamps, I bought a 10' section of pipe and began cutting.

The clamps worked GREAT! I was just happy that they worked and that there were enough, my kids however went to the work of counting them and assuming their count is right (they are 11 & 8) I had 58 clamps and a about a 2' chunk of pipe left over so each clamp came in at under $0.10! Plus they won't gum up if you get epoxy on them and they won't rust if the kids leave them in the rain.

You can adjust the tension by cutting the slices thinner or thicker to get the stiffness you want. A little trial and error works well here. I used 2" conduit PVC but other diameters of pipe will work depending on how large a clamp opening you need.

Stitch and Glue Demo EZ Skiff

We had our stitch and glue demo last Thursday night where we stitched up the EZ Skiff then filleted and stitched up the seams.

It was a great demo and participants that wanted to got to step in and get some hands on action.

Here are a few shots of the skiff after we got it taped up.

New Boat - EZ Skiff

After the last stitch and glue demo we recieved a request from a friend and a customer for a row boat that could carry a small family and still be car toppable. So after looking around a bit I found a few designs online but they were chine log construction so I drew up a new rowing skiff to be put together using stitch and glue.

Particulars are:

Length: 14'
Beam: 50"
Draft: 3" with 275lb load 5" with 650lb load

Here are some screen shots from the computer drawing-