: Are their any problems with sealing the wood with a standard wood sanding
: sealer prior to epoxying? Epoxy is *very* expensive here and I imagined
: that a basic wood sanding sealer application may be useful in limiting the
: soak-up of epoxy by the raw wood surface.

: - bruce

The older methods and materials for strip building called for the use of white cedar and polyester resin. Red cedar was not generally used with polyester because it was oilier than white cedar and the polyester resin didn't stick as well. That problem was solved by sealing the red cedar with lacquer before applying the glass with a polyester resin.

What this means to you: if you have the sealer and epoxy resin is extremely expensive, then use the less expensive polyester resin instead. Boat stores near me would sell polyester resin for under $16 a gallon, including the tube of catalyst (hardener). That is a lot cheaper than epoxy!

The working characteristics of polyester resin are a bit different than with epoxy, but the end result is quite nice. Polyester resin is less resistant to moisture penetration, but has a greater resistance to UV light, so you get a trade-off on benefits. annual upkeep is a bit different, too. You will not need to varnish a polyester boat to protect it from UV in sunlight, but you might want to do so for cosmetic reasons.

David Hazen's book on strip built canoes was written several years ago when polyester was the resin of choice (times change) and his book presents a good discussion on how to use the materials. One ofthe few "flaws" with his book, in fact is that it deals more with polyester than with epoxy, and everyone seems to be changing to epoxy these days.

hope this helps

PGJ