Hello -
I may be five years late in discussing my experience in the above topic, but
the sense of progress in what must be the slowest Europa ever to be born is
driving me to share with any who may be farther behind than I.
First of all, all the details I set to achieve prior to gluing the top on
were not met. It became a struggle to do some without leaving out the vital
actions. As a result I have smooth 1/2" ducting to replace wiring which
should have gone in, and hope to squeeze other mods and installations by
wriggling into the abyss.
Secondly, without the push of a nearby (2 hr) fellow builder, one David
Miller who is now well ahead of me in completion, I might never have done
it. That's a given.
Third, having that morning sanded all potential surfaces, I built two
containers of 420 at 210gm total each (150 plus 60) and very lightly brushed
the merest layer of same on the canoe surfaces marked as applicable - and
noted the time.
Four, the amount of flox stirred in cannot be easily measured, but I think
one may safely add more flox than just to avoid slopping from too little.
This is what David prescribed. I added more to provide more bulk, as some
layers seemed not to provide the bulk the clearances appeared to need.
Five, the task needed about 2 hours for the job, although the slopping of
420 on all surfaces was achieved in under 20 minutes using plastic tubs,
well stirred with tongue depressors. I had applied the "splash" technique
(pioneered by paul Stewart I believe and and engendered by GraSing) to the
original bulkhead arch (which I cut down to a three-inch arc for strength),
the revised second bulkhead 14inches behind the first which goes the whole
route from keel to fuse top, the top of the mass-balance tower and the rear
bulkhead, plus the later model rudder post.
We then walked the top indoors, held it overhead and lowered it into
position - badly. The result was some of the 420 was scraped off the canoe,
both at the widest part (near bulkhead one), at the upper corner of the aft
joggle (where the top refused initially squeeze wide enough to conform) and
the 'wings' of the top where they overlie the rudderpost.
Shocked at the little 'greening' of the canoe overlap (showing where 420 had
squidged onto both surfaces) - much like you found with the cockpit
insertion - I assembled a league of drill-screws (those which have a small
drill, followed by threads incorporated) of the 1/4inch hexagonal drive
head - #8x1/2inch long. Where green was sparse, I drilled in and cinched a
drillscrew and was chuffed to see green expand. Unfortunately, this turned
into a selfserving act of desperation which culiminated in a torrent of
these devices to whit -121 in all, Some were at 20 inch spacings and some
2-3 inches apart.
Six, aftermath.......... In spite of all urging, praying and foul language,
not all spaces turned green - I would say about 5% or less remains
improperly gooped. It will be 0% when I add injected 420 pure syrup via
1/16inch drill holes later today, as the bright backlight inside reveals all
outside.
I also kept the tubs and weighed them for residue and unused goop. 31.8gm -
not bad as potentially wasted material I thought. So the amount used was
420gm - 31.8 = 388gm.
Conclusions -
[a] Everything behind the massbalance tower should be in place. I am
convinced that no human contact with the nether world behind that is wanted.
[2] Prepare the surfaces for adherence as close to H-hour as you can. I
used a small electric sander which did the job in about 15 minutes.
[3] For two people (three if a qualified goop mixer is contracted for)
two pots of about 200gms or so plus the makings of an additonal 20gms of
yellow paste should do the job. You may want to make one at a time, or make
two smaller lots, but the advantage of two daubers at once is a
time-sensitive thing, and really worth it.
[4] Give each surface the amount of goop it deserves. If excess squeezes
out in the event, you should have time to scrape it away and apply it
elsewhere if you've been timely in application. We found the compound to be
thickening within the hour, and useful for about another thrirty minutes
after that - perhaps a bit longer.
[5] Jam sticks in place insidse to wedge the top 'open' at the flanges,
tied to pieces of cord which you can yank on to remove when in position.
Manoeuvre the top cautiously down from above and when both sides are happy,
plunk into place, giving early priority to the firewall surface. We found
the upward joggle near the tail to be deficient by about 1/4inch, which may
not now be the case (kit purchased in 1997).
[6] Have several smaller projects requiring 420 on standby for excess.
The sooner the daubing is done, the sooner excess can be redirected and the
less the waste.
[7] Do NOT daub the top's flanges. The advantage is the confirmation of
wetting of both sides of the joggle flange when 420 wets the top and shows
through visibly. I believe this outranks the pre-wetting of surfaces on the
canoe.
[8] Remove the drillscrews after about 7-8 hours. I found few of them
tainted sufficiently to refuse to undo. The use of 1/4inch hexheads was an
enormous advantage as the lowly elec. drill made the job a pushover. I
counted them while watching The Right Stuff on TV.
It is so visible a step, the triumph of this stage may save my
marriage - . And we get back half of the guest bedroom for original
purposes. Review sentence one again.
Hope this was not too wordy, but that it serves some other poor fish.
Cheers, Ferg
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