JEM Watercraft

Thinking of solutions to reduce weight and enhance appearance of the wood. In the photos during the stiching process I notice builders using tie wraps and PVC pipe. I was thinking of using .040 safety wire and PVC which would require much smaller holes there by reducing the amount of epoxy needed to fill. Is this over kill? Please share your thoughts.

It will have a little weight reduction and it'll be harder to see the stitch holes.

Hi rgsteven.

I like the tie wire because of the smaller holes and I can loosen them to make any adjustments I may need. I don't think there will be much difference in weight.

I use solid copper electrical wire, I think it is 20 gauge. I like it because it is cheap (like me) and easy to find. You can actually completely glue it in place with epoxy. Come back a couple of days later, heat it up with a cigarette lighter, and it pulls right out with a pair of pliers. I also like the much smaller holes in the wood. They are very hard to find unless you are looking really closely.

My favorite is the copper wire, you get a lot for a small amount and it works really good and it can be purchased at any hardware store.

I cut mine in pieces 4 inches long so there is plenty to work with and adjust if necessary. Just don't tighten it to tight ...Like using some pliers to twist it because it will cut through the wood if you do ... use your fingers to twist it.

After you epoxy the seams together then just snip it with a wire cutter and grip the end, twist the pliers and the wire just pops out leaving a 1/16 hole in the wood which the 1st coat of epoxy to seal the wood will fill up.

Not sure about the gauge of the wire but it just a bit .... very little bit smaller then the 1/16 drill bit , if that makes a little bit of sense. My computer likes the word ...bit.

Chuck.

0.040" safety wire is pretty stout stuff. (Sounds to me like you might have an aviation background. In the Air Force, we used 0.032" stainless steel safety wire.) On my boats, I used el-cheapo stove pipe wire from the hardware and it worked well.

While I don't recommend leaving the wire in the boat a long time, it can be done. My practice was to wire it all up, run glue seams in an evening, and pop the wires the first thing in the morning. A few wires became a permanent part of my boat. I have no guilty conscience.

I found it easier to pull the wires using a smaller pair of vice-grips that had an upper haw witha rounded profile. I could clamp onto the wire, and roll the pliers back, pivoting on the outside edge of the upper jaw. That gave me lots of leverage and it eased the untwisted wires out nicely.