Although the boat was complete, there was still a small detail to deal with. It’s called an end pour. When the deck and the hull are epoxied together, fiberglass tape is used to re-enforce the seams. However, you can only get so close to the bow and the stern. There is a few inches that is not epoxied on the inside. Now, there’s plenty of strength in the fiberglass and epoxy on the outside but there still needs to be some re-enforcing on the inside
Earlier in the construction process, I poured a mixture of epoxy and styrofoam into the corners of the hull of the bow and the stern. I used styrofoam to make the pour lighter without taking away any strength.
This is the area that the rope for the handle will go into. Drilling through it will keep water from entering the hull plus it will be strong enough to use the handles to tie the boat to the top of the van.Drilling the holes for the rope. This is way out of the building sequence but it gives you a good reference.What on earth is he doing? I’ve leaned the boat vertical so that when I pour the epoxy into the end it finds all the nooks and gaps to fill, making it just a bit stronger.A somewhat disorienting view looking into the hatch.The white area is the epoxy/styrofoam. You can’t see it but there is 3/8″ gap between the top of the foam and the deck. This is what I want to fill with epoxy to seal and secure the end.In goes about 3 oz. of epoxy. If you look real closely you can see the darker fresh epoxy filling in the gaps.I’ve used a bucket of ice water on other end pours but this was a pretty small pour so I wrapped the end with wet towel and packed it with ice. Why? Well I’m glad you asked. When you pour epoxy into a confined space, it can generate a lot of heat from the curing process. In some cases it can get so hot that it can ruin or discolor a finish. The ice wrap was enough to keep the section cool. After about 4 hours, I flipped the boat and did the other end. And the boat was finished!!!!The final weight. The specs said the boat should be 35 lbs. I changed the foot pegs which added 12 oz. I installed the hidden hatch hardware, that added 3 oz. The handles were 3 oz. So I guess I was pretty close to the recommended weight.
To put the boat weight in perspective, my wife’s current 14′ poly boat weighs 58 lbs. So this boat fully 20 lbs. less.
