A play with CPES and Fill-It.

[Wild Wassa]

The photos are of Coachwood and Douglas, Seafly racing dinghies. There are only a couple of yardstick points between Olympic Finn Class and Seafly Class, in my neck of the woods (111/115 VYC provisionals). With spinnaker, Seaflys carry 256sq ft of sail, and weigh only 225lbs. They are a good hoot when the wind is up, and hopefully the boat I'm restoring will win races for me.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid94/pf08daa4df252643eb91fa8b2335ad46b/fa37083e.jpg

An old Sea Scout Seafly, without a spinnnaker and shute, also Coachwood and Douglas. They get out of the hole and plane well. Seaflys still win Class A handicap races without spinnakers.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid94/p104f3bd932672eb2c9151891a6dc98d6/fa3708e7.jpg

Smith and Co recommended 97% paint removal when using CPES. Fill-It and CPES saved this boat for sure. Fill-It, stays where one puts-it. The Fill-It/glass/epoxy laminates are 5mm.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid94/pee2f6fab40e362a1e60b02b316f5901c/fa370bc1.jpg

Photo before I trued the hull's shape and cut back the boat's surface, this took a very long time, months. The hull is now under paint. Glass macros are the transparent whites, for those who haven't used them.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid94/p5bb6d5368a83ca2e2a6864c8693b2340/fa3709e8.jpg

Just like the Fill-It instruction's diagram.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid94/p43029405360afb997fa9923f9d7d075e/fa370948.jpg

Fill-It is the best screw hole plugging medium, that I've used.

Warren.

[ 12-24-2003, 04:22 AM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[wolfietuk]

Warren
What exactly is fill-it and do you know if it is available in the U.S. The hull looks great, nice work.

Merry Christmas
Rick Tuk

[Wild Wassa]

G'day wolfietuk, Fill-it is a compression strength filler, manufactured by Smith and Co in the US. Smith and Co manufacture CPES as well. Fill-It was originally designed for the aerospace industry. Fill-It has fine polyester strands in it which give it incredible strength. Fill-It can also be screwed into after drilling pilot holes. Fill-It comes as a resin and hardener, mixed equal parts by volume, I find the components are best mixed with a fork rather than using a putty knife. The resin is a very thick medium.

After applying Fill-It it is recommended that you finish the surface pronto, otherwise it is almost not sandable. Scott Rosen. gave me a heads up on this one, thank goodness. I find Fill-It chisels well after about 16hrs, and sands best after about 20hrs at temperatures as low as a few degrees C.

The plusses with fill-It are; applied to a vertical surface, it sticks and doesn’t slump, touch dry after a short time, shrinkage is very low compared to other compression strength fillers that I’ve used (from BCP in Oz). Down sides are, trying to work out equal parts by volume, when parts A n’B have different densities, the resin is dense while the hardener is light and fluffy. Another down side for me, is that it is heavier than BCP’s compression strength filler. On a racing dinghy, every gram counts.

I made a bar of Fill-It, to replace a bit of missing rail, 30 x25 x 120mm and supported only by a bit of Gladwrap. The horizontal repair did not slump, nor did it shrink, beyond a minimum amount. I would not have believed this possible. I made a support to support the repair, but didn’t even get to put it in place. I’m not endorsing Fill-It, I’m just telling you what I found.

Merry Xmas to you all.

Warren.

ps, Santa's Helpers are subordinate Clauses.

[Domesticated_Mr. Know It All]

Great photo's Warren! :cool:

Nice work you're doing there mate. smile.gif

[Wild Wassa]

Thank you Mr Know I All. I hope you are having a good break Kevin.

Warren.

[Scott Rosen]

Nice work and nice photos, Warren! Glad to see the boat is coming along nicely.

Fill-it is the best product of its type that I've found.

[Wild Wassa]

Scott, Fill-It was an excellent product. I tried sanding some Fill-It that had cured for about 3 months. I only needed to take off about 1/2 mm just to correct a fine ripple, in one area. I effectively gave up, and had to bring the surface up to the Fill-It's level. I didn't have much option, even with coarse grits it didn't seem to matter. I really was going to let the Fill-It cure for at least a month before I cut it back, to a fine finish. I was expecting it to shrink, which it didn't do. You couldn't have read my first posting, at a better time Sir. As you can see, I've used a bit of Fill-It. The gravity of the situation is in the photo. Thankyou again.

Warren.