Saturday, 20 June 2020

Never Ending Filets!

This boat requires the seams are "filleted" which provides stiffness and strength. Some of the filets like in the corners of the hull segments are more structural than others and requires a wide fillet.

There a different methods of doing fillets, I had up to this point been using the back of the spoon method, spreading the fillet with a putty knofe and then smoothing it into a large radius with the back of a DQ Spoon.

The method is shown in this video:


Howe, there are literally miles and miles of filets in this build, and now that the boat is flipped I have several small filets to do. There has to be an easier way!

Since I flipped my boat, I went to my local shop, and found the West System refillable caulking tubes for $3.99 (CDN) or about $3 (USD) a tube.

(I was actually going there to pick up some Interfibe to mix in with the wood flour for the fillet mix)
I filled them about 5/8 - 3/4 full with a slow setting fillet mixture. I did not cut the ends off like in the article. But I can say this is working great! It takes a few minutes to spoon in the mixture with a plastic spoon. I use a coffee can to hold the tube upright while I spoon it in, and let the mixture settle a couple minutes.
Pushing out the cap when you are done can be a little tricky, but isn't too hard. I poked a hole in a couple caps tapping them out with a rod.. but I have been able to patch them, and re-use it no problems. It hasn't been a big deal.

Another method imvolves using an air compressor, and simply using a blowtip to push the cap out using compressed air.. voila!

For those larger filleting jobs, I have to say this method is super clean, and easy - a little bit of setup and take down time.. but to be honest.. I am loving it...

Faster, Neater Fillets



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