Russell Brown

Those shards are called "meathooks" for a reason.

Your boat looks like a million bucks, He b. Wish I could see it up close. I would like to understand the diamond-wire staying that I somehow missed in previous photos. If it's what I think, I'm intrigued. Won't have internet till next week, so I'll just imagine the possibilities.

I just can't see intentionally adding huge loads to something that needs to be small and light just because it's possible, when a multihull has such a huge advantage (over monohulls) of having a wide staying base. Tension/compression structures (stayed rig) make so much more sense than bending the crap out of something that has to be skinny and light.

Okay, I'll buy the flattening agent. I would like to try the Epifanes 2-part. I'm locked in on colors on the boat I'm building, so can't switch now, but I'd like to know how well it works with the roller-only method.

That's a badass ride!

It's like calling Bank of America. I read in in a Wooden Boat add that Epifanes has an LP that flows out without tipping and I'd like to know if anyone has tried applying it with a roller without tipping. I can't imagine how much paint I've helped Interlux sell, but can I get them to send me a can or two of reactor? No. To make matters worse, I had to tip the job I did yesterday because the bubbles wouldn't pop and it came out lousy. No idea why as it's fresh reactor, but I feel like my book is a bit of a liability and maybe I should pull it. Any thoughts?

Cheaper, better performance, and LIGHTER, plus the ability to fly genoas, screechers, and spinnakers. I can see choosing an unstayed mast on a monohull, but not on a multihull. I can also see the biplane rig on a cat making sense, but otherwise it's a ton of money to witness crazy loads that don't make any sense. My 36' proa, whose performance actually would impress you PIL, had a rig which I could carry to the boat and step myself with some setup and tackle. The mast on my current boat weighs 65 lbs. Sidecar's mast is similar.

A carbide scraper may be the cleanest way to get the bulk of it off.

This an oddball question, but has anyone tried making 2 part LP paint flat by misting it with water? I know that painting outside too late in the day can lead to flat paint from dewfall, but I want to do it in my shop. My eyeballs can't take reflection from glossy surfaces and I'm about to non-skid the forward end of the motorboat I'm building, so everything forward of where I sit. Even non-skid is glossy with this paint and I want it to go away. I know I can buy flattening agent, but it costs the same as the paint and it's clear. I'm not super chuffed with International after finding out the hard way that the reactor has a 2 year shelf life and it can't be purchase separately. I have lots of different colors in partially full cans, but the reactor is all toast, so it's all toxic waste instead of usable paint. Any ideas, or comments on my rant?

Thanks Beer! Reuel's got a dinghy fetish for sure. The big boat is pretty interesting too.

I don't remember exactly which Ampreg epoxies we were using on the AC boats, but the numbers sound familiar. It worked and it had a slightly higher HDT than West, but it wasn't as friendly and had lots of amine blush. I think Pro-Set is the go-to for those guys now. What's Ampreg 21 & 22 intended for?

All epoxies produce amine blush, even the ones that advertise "no blush" hardeners. West 207 hardener is called low-blush, but I've never seen or felt blush from it. 207 has roughly the same physical properties as 205 or 206 hardeners, so good for gluing, coating, glassing, etc. It also can be painted or varnished as soon as it can be sanded without "beading", usually 2 days, but less with a post cure. It's more expensive than 205 or 206 (and 3:1 instead of 5:1), but it's the best handling all-around epoxy I've used and has gotten better over the years. West publishes data that is honest to a fault, others maybe not. One of them publishes physical properties that are very far off. Not saying who. Low blush epoxies can be recoated the next morning without prep, but it's not a good idea to bond to glossy hard epoxy without sanding first.

Anyone get photos of Reuel's dinghy/tender?

I didn't mean to disparage New Englanders in my defensive comeback. I'd erase it if I could. There is a certain something that I really don't miss about the East, but it's likely just my perception.

It's actually dead easy to get from the Vinyard to Maine by public transportation. That's all I was saying. What exactly is it that bothered you in what I said?