Wood Flour

Brandon Bolling

Brandon Bolling

Active member
Merry Christmas everone!!!! I hope all had an enjoyable holiday, I did. I finally bought my wife a remote car starter......what does that mean???? The Garage is mine!!!! Boat production has been given the go-ahead by my finacial supervisor and the new less than appealing parking spot is now remotely heated. Anyway, I am having trouble locating wood flour and 3M 5200 locally. The lumber yard guys just gave me a flat no on the wood flour and the only place I can find the 3M is on the internet. My resources are limited to Home Depot and Lowe's. I am in MI and if any of my nieghbors know something I don't, please help me out, or help from anyone else would be greatly appreciated. It is my understanding that "filleting" all your joints makes a stronger boat, and that's good. I am sure we will be talking a lot, I am looking at these plans and I already have a ton of questions. Thanks for taking a look!

-Brandon
 
Congrats on the new project.

Wood flour is available at RAKA. I believe their website is www.raka.com

You'll be able to get a few different species of wood flour, not sure of their differences. Someone else here should have some comments on that.

5200 is available at Home Depot around here, but it seems like they only have it in stock occasionally. They make it in white, mahogany, and black and maybe other colors so see if they can order it for you or just buy online.

What boat are you building?

Merry Christmas and good luck in your new venture.

-D
 
I am planning on building a Duck Hunter by Gator Boats. It is a 14 or so foot decked marsh boat. They say its a good starter boat. I am new to boat building, but I used to do metal fabrication, so I think I can figure it out. I am hoping to get some help from everbody, it should be a great adventure. This last season sealed the deal for building my own boat, could have really used it. Plus I am addicted to this site, all those beautiful boats made by hand and the great stories, I dont plan on going anywhere.
 
http://www.tollerboatworks.com/

Brandon, the above link is to a site in NC that professionally builds your type of boat. Lots of good info on that design.

James town distributers online store should have the 5200 as well as all the metal parts you are looking for.

currently my small projects only require the amount of filler I can get out of the dust bags on my sanders. However, RAKA is the cheapest source. If you have a furniture shop near you, ask them if you can clean out one of their collectors, or if they can collect a 5 gallon bucket of it for you. You want sanding dust not the chips from a saw or jointer.
 
After already paying the boat shop price for my 5200, I happened to walk down the caulk aisle at Wal-Mart, and sure enough, there it was for 1/3 the price.
I'd try a furniture type shop for wood flour as well, or just order it.
 
Get a 5lb bag of wood flour for fillets from one of the epoxy places.,,Raka is where I'll get my next boats epoxy.. it is finer, doesn't have grain string, no resins and is dry. I used some out of my sanding bag for small stuff that didn't matter and it wasn't 1/4 as workable as the real deal.
 
Merry Christmas everone!!!! I hope all had an enjoyable holiday, I did. I finally bought my wife a remote car starter......what does that mean???? The Garage is mine!!!! Boat production has been given the go-ahead by my finacial supervisor and the new less than appealing parking spot is now remotely heated. Anyway, I am having trouble locating wood flour and 3M 5200 locally. The lumber yard guys just gave me a flat no on the wood flour and the only place I can find the 3M is on the internet. My resources are limited to Home Depot and Lowe's. I am in MI and if any of my nieghbors know something I don't, please help me out, or help from anyone else would be greatly appreciated. It is my understanding that "filleting" all your joints makes a stronger boat, and that's good. I am sure we will be talking a lot, I am looking at these plans and I already have a ton of questions. Thanks for taking a look!

-Brandon
Click to expand...

Brandon,
As stated below, hit Home Depot for your 5200. Even my wholesale suppliers can't beat their prices. It should be around $8 per tube. If you can't find it, give a holler and I or somebody closer can pick it up for you and ship it to you....cheaper than you can buy it at the marine stores.
Lou
www.lockstockbarrell.com
 
Brandon ,

Congrats on getting approval for "YOUR" project . for 5200 try a marine supply house ( West Marine or what ever else you have nearby ) Or Jamestown distributars right here in RI . I built my boat using all there supplies , I used System 3 epoxy with great success as well as there maple wood flour . Give them a try . Good luck on the project and post pics



Dave
 
Raka for wood flour. The DH II is a nice boat and really easy to build. Especialy after ya do a couple of them. The guys over at the Gator forum (of which I am one ) are really genorus with info.
 
Oh yeah, Home Depot and Lowe's both should have 5200. Sometimes they hide it and ya have to ask.
 
Thanks a lot everyone, I really appreciate all of your help. I work nights, 6P to 6A, so later today I am on the hunt, I am going to buy a belt sander, jig saw, garage heater, and some lumber, hopefully I will find my 5200 too. Ohhhh man I cant wait until it actually starts to look like a boat! I bought my wife a digital camera so pictures will start assuming I can figure it out, thanks again!
 
Brandon, these guys covered it pretty well. Larry at raka is great to work with. My Wal-mart supercenter has 5200 and 4200 in the boat stuff isle. It is in squeeze tubes which is good for the smaller jobs that dont require a whole calking gun size tube. At any rate if you cant find it at walmart check out the price 3m stuff on the raka site.

Good luck with the project and post lots of pics from " here is the pile of wood to here is the finished boat".

Mike
 
Brandon, more suggestions from the peanut gallery:

1) The more useful sander is a random orbital. A belt sander is helpful but only in rare circumstances. Your boat has rounded curves, it isn't straight. The belt sander is a great tool in the scarfing process however.

2) Best tool bar none was the handheld electric planer. Cutting wood, taking away excess material. It makes a big difference in building a precision boat vs a "goodnuff" boat.

3) I used two flours and I much prefer the "maple" flour. It's strong as hell, but the trade off is that it's much tougher to sand, so when applying the maple flour build fillets that won't involve lots of material sanding.

That's it, good luck.
 
Hi Brandon

After looking at the link to the Toller Boat Works all I can say is "SWEET". That looks like an awesome design. I once built two cedar strip canoes using epoxy fiberglass and found it to be very user friendly especially when using the pumps on each can. One pump of resin and one pump of hardener and you had the perfect mix.
Good Luck

Bill G.
 
What about the auto body paint dealers like the guy that sale PPG or Dupont paint and auto body supplies they should have 3M and most any glue or epoxy products. Look in the yellow pages for PPG or Dupont and call might even find a deal on sand paper and other fiberglassing tools.
 
Hey everbody! Having a hell of a time today. This is the second attempt to type this because the first one got erased. Went to Home Depot and the very attractive, very helpfull Depot girl found the 5200 with me. I swear it was not there two weeks ago. The tube said 03/06 and the girl told me that it was expired and more would have to be ordered. I thought it was the born on date, but she insisted it was expired. Does it expire? #2 The 5200 along with the screws is what holds the boat together right? or is there another epoxy I need to get? #3 I saw some really nice looking Birch plywood, my plans say I can use pine, but the birch looked a lot nicer. Is Birch a boat making wood? I know I should use the expensive marine stuff but I just can't afford it. What is better, Pine or Birch? Or is it just as bad to use either one? #4 Can I get away with an armstrong (hand) planer or is power the way to go? I thought I was ready to go, but it looks like I am a fish out of water.

-Brandon
 
Guess I would have to see the designers directions for construction. Do you build a frame and the sheath it with the plywood? 5200 is not an epoxy..it's a very strong adhesive in a tube...usually used for mounting hardware like handles and other small stuff. The birch is probably "Chinese" birch if it's from Homo-despot and no..it isn't a good boat building plywood..even if it is good domestic birch plywood..I'd rather see you go with MDO ply(not MDF) if you can't get marine grade. The MDO is an exterior grade with a kraft paper scrim for outdoor signs and is the least I would use on a motorized boat. Check your plans for what the maker suggests.
 
Suggestion: either pick up Sam's book and follow the directions, especially materials choices, or, re-do a cheap aluminum boat.

I have a friend who built a boat out of cheap ply and 5200 -- didn't last very long. Cheap is a relative term.
 
Andrew, he is building a "Duckhunter" by Gator boats..not a Devlin....I think they are skin on frame not stich and glue so it's a bit different.
 
Thanks Lee... how could there be another duck boat designer in this world? ; )

No ducks here man, I was so looking forward to this season as this is a very stress filled year. I think I'm trading it all in and taking up checkers.
 
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