Plastic Classic Forum

Dangit, I was hoping no one would call me out on the epoxy! OK, so here's the background: I built a sea kayak using System Three, which is a two to one ratio, and used it for a bunch of other projects around the house. So I was used to mixing by that ratio. Well, I also had some West resin from an u...

Now for some interesting stuff. After much research, questioning of other Ericson owners, etc., I decided to remove a portion of the transom to allow for an outboard. I know this might sound extreme, but there are many other Ericson 27's with such a cutout (it was a factory option). So I didn't feel...

Oops, didn't realize there was a 3 photo limit. Fitting the port core material. I made the mistake of using an unfamiliar epoxy to fill under the edges on this side, and mixed it wrong, which necessitated a full removal with grinder (regular and coarse wire wheels), multimaster, various custom made ...

Since I finally figured out an easy way to resize my photos, here are some updates of my progress... Done to date: Stripped interior and exterior Sanded all (almost) old nasty paint off the deck. Replaced core on both side decks Here is a photo of the boat when I got her last September E27 Before.jp...

I was sanding with the 7335 the other day and I noticed that the pad would stop rotating when I applied only a little bit of pressure, and now it acts more like a normal RO sander. It still rotates well with no load, but it seemed to have much more rotation under pressure when new (its only a few mo...

I have used both, and I don't think the Dremel is worth it. It overheats so badly you can barely hold on to it with gloves on. The Fein on the other hand is an absolute beast. On full power it blasts through core material, fiberglass, etc. and barely gets hot. I wore one of the blades almost flat re...

Update on the core replacement- I purchased the cheapest (least expensive!!) version of the Fein Multimaster. What a difference! At full power it blasted right through the balsa. Probably took less than half the time of the Dremel. I can tell i am going to find a ton of uses for the tool. My wife wh...

Thanks for the advice guys. I did use a circular saw to cut the outline of the area, hoping the top skin would come up intact. It did not, so I will be using all new material. I think I will just go ahead and install the core material without reinforcing the bottom skin, since its not a very wide ex...

Finally started the recore job today. I thought that removal of the top skin would be a little easier than it was. Some parts of the core were totally melted and the top skin fell away easily, but other sections were still tightly adhered. After an hour with prybar, chisel, scraper, screwdriver, etc...

OK, nothing is impossible! Just daunting. Sanding it is. Thanks for the advice.

Hmmmm, I see some new tools in my future...

Hi everyone,been lurking for a couple months but not posted till now. I have a 1972 Ericson 27 that will be undergoing a deck recore and finishing. The PO painted the deck some years ago. The paint is adhering well, but he did a very shoddy job and it needs to be redone (especially after the core re...