Boat Forum / Building / August 2005

I would like to clean up an old paddle.
1. Can I use the oxalic acid which I have had in a bottle for twenty years?
2. What proportion should I mix
Many thanks in advance

Boy, oh boy! Those two-part paints require some learning. Finally got a
decent coat on the topsides this morning. Here are some of the things I've
learned:
If the temperature is above 75, don't paint.

I'm Daniël Boekel, member of a waterscout's group in the Netherlands. I'm
engineering a small tugboat wich we are going to build. It will be a
traditional looking boat of 8,6 meters.
I've made a 1:10 model to check all the lines:

Anyone know where to get technical details of the long shaft propulsion
system using about 6 hp to 10 hp or the name and local of a company that
makes them ?
Cheers Ian Kentish in Bendigo Oz .

Hi all, got a little question: I'm fitting a toilet into my boat and I
am finding places to fit the inlet and outlet seacocks difficult.
The best position is with the outlet below the inlet and about 18
inches apart, but should the outlet be above the inlet to help prevent

I have a crazy design project, for which I would like to hear critical
comments from this newsgroup.
The project is about designing a small schooner, about 7 meters (21'). It
all started last summer when we (me and my father Lauri) started to wonder

  what is the best way/product to clean up and
restore shine of fiberglass that is a bit dull,
i.e. the topsides of an older fiberglass boat?
Possibly without too much polishing? :)

Dear Group,
 I am interested in some feedback on pontoon construction. I have
looked at several designs for wood pontoons with fiberglass over them.
I would not be building something huge, perhaps about 18 feet max. Has

I have to build a cement boat that will hold as much weight as
possible. It must be made completely out of cement, no styrofoam, wood,
or anything that would provide buoyancy. It can be 1 cubic foot
maximum.  How would I go about doing this??

Thanks Jim,
Thats pretty much what I do too.  I tend to be a bit heavier on the resin,
particularly on the heavier carbon double bias cloth and then remove the
excess by bagging, just to be sure.

(This has probably been answered before )
My wife has this crazy idea that she wants me to restore an old Chris Craft
Riviera.  She saw one on a local lake, and fell in love with it.  She thinks
that since I am a decent carpenter, its only natural that I could restore a

Can anyone tell me how they tell that carbon fibre is "wet out" when
laminating? ( looking at both uni, plain weave and biaxial carbon).
TIA
AD

Day of sun, day of rain, day of sun, day of rain,.. I'm back inside
the breathtakingly spacious cabin of my 23' yacht with it's many
luxury appointments getting ready to stick up some stained plywood
panels I made. It's 3mil 1088 Okume ply. (hence the rakish moniker for

I have found an beautiful old cedar lapstrake boat with an strange canoe
shaped bow, from
what information I have it was made in  the Simcoe lake region of Ontario
Canada around 1950 by Bonny. Not sure of spelling. It is the runabout type,

I am just about done putting in a new transom and moving on to the
stringers. The hull/old glass roven that I will be bonding the new roven to
is extremely dirty looking, mostly black from years of being wet I think.
What is the best way to get it as clean as possible for bonding ...