July 28, 2002 - How to use epoxy glue.

The glue that is used for the punt is the West epoxy system. I bought what was known as kit B - a 2.5 litre container of resin, a 0.5 litre container of hardener, and some pumps that dose out 5 parts of resin to 1 part hardener. But looking through the instructions it claimed that you needed some 406 filler if you were going to do some bonding, so I'd sent off for that. I also sent off for: a fishing kit, a Canadian paddle, two fenders, and a length of mooring chain. This came to £50.

The gluing turned out to be very easy, but here are some hints: 1) make sure you have latex gloves, and a load of plastic jerrycans you can cut up. I used empty parafin cans. The bottom half makes a good container, and the top half can be cut into lots of cheap plastic skimmers, stirrers and scrapers, and 2) cling-film is a good surface to do the glueing on, because it just peels off afterwards.

My first straps were for the sides; I took care to make sure I had matching sides as I didn't want a boat with a butt strap on the outside on one side and the inside on the other. The straps are that short because they mustn't foul the strap on the bottom of the boat. I wet the strap and the two parts to the boat with resin/hardener mix, and then put a couple of teaspoons of filler (which is this amazingly light fluffy snow-like stuff - when you first get your container you think it is empty) into the remaining glue, and spread it on generously.

For the side straps I didn't wrap the bricks in clingfilm, and so they got stuck to the wood, pulling some away when I took the bricks off. Nothing that can't be cleaned up with a bit of sanding, but for the bottom of the boat I decided to wrap the bricks in cling-film too. I'll let you know how it went.

24 hours the straps for the side were dry, and I could work on the strap for the bottom. My garage was to small to do both, but it is obvious that the finished punt will fit into it. The final picture shows a gazebo I put up so I can do some work if it rains a bit (I hope).