: I got my Lee Valley Kettle yesterday and proceeded to steam bend my PVC pipe
: also! (I wonder how many they sold after that post by Rob?) I think my PVC
: pipe bent because I did not build in a drain so the hot water pooled in
: the middle. I am going to try it again tonight and see if a drain hole and
: slight tilt to the pipe minimize the problem.

I noticed the PVC pipe (4' long by 6" diameter) in my steamer starting to sag after the first couple of runs. It never got worse, though, so I didn't attempt to fix the problem. It has run for many hours now with no problems. I too had a drain hole, but ended up taping it shut. It made a mess and really wasn't needed. It also let a lot of steam and water out forcing me to refill the pot too often. If you put in some slant, only a bit is needed. Too much will just make the steam flow through the tube and out the vents without working on the wood. I think I said in my WEB pages that I put about 6" of rise over 4' in mine. This was too much. 2 - 3" should work fine. I also found that spraying the thinner stuff I used for ribs (1/8") with water before steaming them really helped make them plastic when they came out. They seemed to stay hot longer allowing me more time to bend them.

On the SOF project, I let things dry overnight, but I think on a stripper boat, you could mover faster, especially, as mentioned above, if you're using polyurethane glue.

Bill