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Encapsulation of frames
Hi
im in the early stages of the course and perhaps I will find the answer soon…
in my boat build I’m at the boat frames stage and about to be install them onto the building frame. Before doing so I am doing some encapsulation with west system epoxy. These frames are a mix of hidden frames and visible wood. I will later be going back and doing a layer of encapsulation after the boat is flipped and everything is exposed
is it important to not encapsulate any wood surfaces that may later have other parts epoxy glued to it? So for example should I leave the top inner surface of the frame where floor timbers will be laid on top and glued free of encapsulation with west system to ensure a good glue set or will west system glue bond well to a previously encapsulated surface
PS. Great job on the videos.
Bonding to previously coated epoxy is fine as long at it is well abraded, no finer than 80g for sure. The areas I tend to leave uncoated are those where I want to retain higher accuracy, for example notches and cutouts that can lose their sharp edges when coated. My advice would be to focus on faces and edges that will not later be bonded to but will be difficult to access for finishing and sanding later on. This process is many times easier and less annoying to do on the bench than in the boat!