Handy Tips

[Guest]

I got an idea, instead of whining about racing, why not be positive and share an idea or helpful tip that others may not know.

[Guest]

My 1st Tip....
Got a can of wood putty that is hard or very stiff? Add acetone to it, mix, and it can become as smooth as you like it. Add A little acetone at a time and mix.

[Guest]

2nd fun tip from my old friend ZAK....
Need a flashlight. Make one using an empty toilet roll, and a lit match behind it. Harry Pasturczak called it his Polish Flashlight.

[Guest]

3rd Tip.....
Hate sanding as much as I do?
Make it a little easier on yourself to get into those tight spots, cut strip of sandpaper from adhesive back sandpaper and attach them to Popsicle sticks, shims, 6" long steel rule, old hacksaw blades, etc to get into those tight spots to be sanded.

This trick also works great with pieces of various diameter tubes or dowels.

[Guest]

4th Tip.....
Need some strong horses for your race boat or garage project that will last a life time?
Make them out of steel threaded water pipe. Use pre-cut & threaded straight pipes and "Tees" and "Flanges. Use pipe weather wrap around the straight pipe for protection.

[Guest]

5th Tip from my dad from years ago....
Tip.....don't bet on the horses!

[Guest]

6th Tip.....
I raced PRO for about 40 years. ACE Hardware was my favorite Race Store. Epoxies, fasteners, brass boat nails, paint. If ACE didn't have it I didn't need it. Today I still use ACE, but also order on line from Mc Master-Carr it is like ACE on steroids!

[Guest]

7th Tip......
Got a filthy dirty engine use Castrol Super Clean in the purple bottle. It does a bang up job on aluminum! Watch it on painted surfaces it might dull the paint.

[Guest]

These are my first seven TIPS what are your?

[Fastjack]

Don't let Alex post on HR after midnight !!

[Guest]

8th Tip....
Need to paint your boat and don't have a paint sprayer, or have a sprayer but don't want to go to all the hassle of setting up a spray booth?
Use a paint pad, almost as good of finish as spraying. Use a big one for large areas and a small one for tight areas. Use them once and throw them away, no clean up.

[ZUL8TR]

What is a paint a pad? Is it a wipe on process?

Paint pads are the best thing since slice bread. The PAD is made with a foam backing about 1/4" thick, on the work side it has short fiber hairs about 1/8" long. PAD come in various size, I have use large ones 4" long x 6" wide good for large flat areas, medium size 4" square, small ones about 1" square. All these attach to a metal or plastic frame. The foam carries the paint, varnish, or poly, The short hairs wipes the finish over the work. You can clean and reuse but I don't, I always use a new PAD.

At Lowes or Home Depot you can also buy a throw away type that has the PAD mounded to a piece of ridge foam. This one work quit well and it ls about a buck.

[Guest]

9th Tip.....
Over the years I been told many times you can't paint color over a varnish or poly boat. I lightly sand the area that is to be painted and paint the area with a good enamel. Never had paint failure on any of the 20 or so boats I painted.

[ZUL8TR]

Agreed I do it all the time, well sanded varnish or poly will accept color very well and keep it on.

[Smitty]

When you're about to drive nails (incl. boat nails), into something that you are afraid might split (narrow battens/stringers), first hold the nail head-down against a hard object and tap the pointy end with the hammer to flatten it somewhat. Then drive it.

I think the reason that TIP works is that the point of the nail doesn't spread the grain of the wood apart but instead tears into it. While that a good TIP and have used it, I find for me, it seem easier and faster to just pre-drill the spot with an undersize drill bit.

Before I purchased my pneumatic staple gun to build boats, I would predrill all my nail holes so that I could locate and drive the nails into large panel before the glue began to set.

[Guest]

10th TIP again from my old friend ZAK....
Need heavy duty rubber bands to keep wire leads bundled together, dowels, wires, etc?

Cut up an old bike inner tube across the diameter. These rubber bands will last a life time.

They are also good for holding odd shape item during gluing.

Also, a long length of tube is a great way to keep a role of rosin paper, brown paper, plastic, etc together. A simple twist of the two ends will keep the roll together.

[ZUL8TR]

Need clamps to secure a piece of wood and nails or staples not wanted and regular clamps will not get it done. I use adjustable wood spring clamps against ceiling. Each clamp uses 2 pieces of wood and adjust lengths for desired force. Shown is a Dutchman patch on my hydro deck, wax paper prevents glue stick to small pieces used to spread load. Not shown is securing a ledge below deck ply edges to support the new patch

[Smitty]

"Dutchman patch," that's new to me. I can't see the first photo well enough to see how it works. I can see that you are hanging one long edge of the patch on half of an existing batten, but what about the other edges, have they got some bevel, are they really just 90degree butt-joints? No, that couldn't be because your "springs" would push the patch right through the hole.

[ZUL8TR]

Smitty

As I note I didn't include the picture of the pieces I added below the deck to support the patch because the tip was for the spring clamps. I have included that picture as well as the damage before fix. Rather than remove the entire piece a Dutchman is used and is a patch cut into an area of wood and can take any convenient shape that fits the fix. Just google Dutchman patch images to see examples. In my fix I cut the hole in the deck at the desired shape to remove damage. Then cut the Dutchman to fit that shape by using a piece of paper and thumb press the paper along the deck cut shape to crease it then cut out pattern and transfer to the wood patch slightly larger and fine trim to cut shape in deck.

Thanks for asking for a clarification

Pete