When we bought the boat in December it was apparent that the outside would need to be completely sanded back, caulked and painted, with the winter we have just had this was a job for the future, well that time has come, I have been researching caulking a wooden boat, resins, paints, wood hardeners, preservers and treatments via google forums and various other sources in preparation for the job in hand, all my research kept coming back to one series of products developed by one man Steve Smith an American Scientist. CPES, clear penetrating epoxy sealer their filler fill it and their vitality treatments.
The outside
Until recently these products were only available in America however there is now a UK distributor based around the corner in Kent. I simply searched in google for the best primer for large wooden boats and how to caulk a wooden boat in google and youtube both searches pointed back to the same product CPES. I contacted the distributor this weekend to discuss the outside and inside, while we have the so much wood exposed it would be silly not to do as much now to help preserve the internal wood for as many years as possible.
I have ordered two large tins of CPES, Fill it, their filler that can be used instead of having to replace whole planks and their wood vitality for the internal beams horizontal and vertical.
CPES
Smith's Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™ (CPES™) consists of a tough, flexible resin system in a solvent blend which dissolves the sap, oil and moisture found in wood. The resin system is derived from natural wood resin and develops a chemical adhesive bond to the wood fibers themselves.
The wood is strengthened while allowing normal expansion and contraction with changes in temperature and humidity.
When repairing wood that has mild dry rot, the CPES will migrate along the abnormal porosity which dry rot fungus creates within the wood, as long as it continues to be fed in. Impregnation of wood with CPES changes the cellulose of wood (which fungi and bacteria find tasty and easily digestible) into epoxy-impregnated cellulose which resists further attack by fungi and bacteria while reinforcing the wood, accomplishing restoration.
Paint or varnish will last longer because the paint has a strongly attached, chemically compatible surface to bond onto.
The long working time (pot life) of these products mean they will retain their penetrating and moisture-dissolving ability for more time.
Read and follow application instructions. Keep rain or dew away from areas being treated with CPES until solvents have evaporated out of the wood. This will take at least a day and may take a week or more, depending on the extent of deterioration, how deeply the CPES soaked in and the temperatures day and night.
Application may be by brush, roller or immersion. Spraying is not recommended as a portion of the solvent component will evaporate in transit, and it is important that the product be applied to the wood in the same formulation furnished originally. When applying by roller on a vertical surface, hold the roller only horizontally and slowly roll only upwards. When treating rot inside sound wood, drill a hole that intersects the rot, glue a funnel in the hole, and use Smith's Cold Weather Formulaâ„¢ to impregnate the region. Allow sufficient time for solvents to diffuse and evaporate out of the wood before applying fillers or glues. Removing paint from all sides of wood to be treated speeds solvent evaporation, as does moving air.
CPES is also a consolidant for old, crumbly concrete or mortar between bricks, and is an essential component of effective osmosis blister treatment on fiberglass boats.
Our Epoxy Cleanup Solvent. will clean up any epoxy product before it cures. Once cured, no clean-up solvent is effective.
Working in cooler weather?
Use Smith's Cold Weather Formula™
The Cold Weather Formulaâ„¢ of Smith's Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer was developed because sometimes repairs such as restoration of deteriorated wood, repair of osmosis-damaged fiberglass boats, and/or adhesion-promoting priming for sealants or coatings must be done in the winter.
The particular kind of resins that must be used in Smith's Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer in order to obtain all its usual performance features, which have made the product famous, do not cure well below about 50° F and essentially stop curing by 40° F. This is a normal characteristic of these products, and has been well known to chemists for half a century. If used in cold weather, after a few days they cure in an incorrect manner and do not develop optimum properties in the wood.
Early in 1991 the genius in the research department of Smith & Co. discovered the fundamental reason why this is so, and discovered Smith's Dual Synergistic Catalystâ„¢ which makes it possible for these resin systems to develop a full and predictable cure at temperatures down to 28° F, slightly below freezing!
The entire formula was redesigned to take advantage of this new technology. The new formulation behaves essentially the same in freezing weather as Smith's Warm Weather Formulaâ„¢ does in moderate weather. Smith's Cold Weather Formula was designed to absorb as much water as the existing system does from wood or osmosis-damaged fiberglass laminate, and in addition to dissolve the ice crystals that form in damp materials subjected to below-freezing conditions.
The product line was further improved in 2001 when the solvent formulation was upgraded to give a 50% increase in moisture-dissolving capabilities.
Smith's Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer will prevent freeze-thaw damage to concrete. This surprising performance was discovered by a customer in Finland and verified by the National Testing Institute.
Smith's Cold Weather Formula of Smith's Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer mixes one-to-one by volume as does the Warm Weather Formula. Once mixed, it is recommended that the product be used within its "pot life", although it will be fluid for much longer.
Smith's Cold Weather Formula of Smith's Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES) was designed to be used in the temperature range of 28° F - 65° F. The table of pot life and full cure times on the next page illustrates this.
It is a necessary part of the wood restoration process that the solvents be allowed to evaporate out of the wood before paint or filler is applied. The solvent blend in Smith's Cold Weather Formula evaporates about as fast in cold weather as the solvent blend in Smith's Warm Weather Formula does in warm weather.
The solvent blend of Smith's Cold Weather Formula has a milder odor, as well as evaporating about six times faster. These features allow restoration work to be completed sooner and to be done in the winter, when most products do not work properly.
Restoration of wood inside a house, such as in a bathroom, a door threshold or the inner part of a window sill, should be done with Smith's Cold Weather Formula rather than Smith's Warm Weather Formula when the house is occupied, due to the much milder odor and more rapid solvent vapor dissipation of this version.
Nighttime temperatures are usually much less than daytime temperatures and so night provides less progress towards full cure than day. This makes Smith's Cold Weather Formula valuable when the daytime temperatures are in the 50° F ~ 60° F range and/or night temperatures are in the 30° F ~ 40° F range.
Fill it
Smith's Fill-It Epoxy Filler™ now has a new, softer consistency!
Same great long-working-time. Same great hang-in-place performance. Same great ease of sanding or carving. Same great cold-weather-cure. Same great price. When you want the very best: Smith's Fill-It.
Hello. I'm Steve Smith. Thirty-five years ago I invented The Modern Technology That Restores Deteriorated Wood. Fill-It is an essential part of that technology. It works for two reasons: It is about as flexible when cured as the wood itself, and my resins are made largely from the natural resins of wood itself.
Using something that works isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity. We invented it. It's a fifty-fifty mix. It comes with simple directions. You can buy it. You can use it. Call, e-mail or write to 5100 Channel Avenue, Richmond CA 94804-4646 for more information. We can answer your questions.
Smith's Fill-It epoxy filler represents a breakthrough in the technology of filling compounds. Through the use of advanced hydrogen bonding technology, we have produced a high strength, light weight, non-sagging, easily sanded epoxy filler. It consists of an epoxy resin and a curing agent which is derived from natural wood resins, and so is very compatible with wood.
The two components are designed to mix one to one by volume. When mixed they become a gel which may be faired and worked to a feather edge. After one to two hours in moderate weather it begins to harden, and cures overnight. As soon as it does not gum up the paper it may be sanded, and primers or paints applied. It is easily carved or drilled, and screws may be driven into pilot holes without cracking. It has sufficient compressive strength that it maybe be used to fill defects in ferrocement boat hulls, and sufficient flexibility that it is suitable for wooden beams, windows and sills, doors or other parts of wood buildings as well as wood or fiberglass boat hull repair.
This product was invented by a physicist and aerospace engineer (with thirty years experience in the aerospace industry). It was designed to meet the same formulation standards as aerospace materials. It contains an aerospace adhesion-enhancing additive to give it aggressive and tenacious adhesion to wood, cement and a wide variety of materials. It is reinforced with glass fibers for extra tensile strength. In fact, all of the solid fillers or reinforcing additives are chemically engineered glass of one form or another. This gives the best long-term stability and moisture resistance.
In 1992 this product was upgraded, incorporating Smith's new Dual Synergistic Catalyst™ Technology. This gives a longer working time and shorter full cure time. The new technology also ensures an absolutely dependable full chemical cure at temperatures as low as 28°F (-2°C).
In order to ensure good adhesion of Smith's Fill-It epoxy filler to a surface, the first application should be a thin film smeared forcefully against the surface. An additional quantity may then be applied to build up to the required thickness. The uncured material may be tooled smooth and level by placing a clean new piece of clear 4-mil or 6-mil polyethylene sheet over the uncured material and using a squeegee or other tool to smooth the filler through the plastic. Leave the plastic film in place until the filler has cured, when the plastic film may easily be peeled off. In order to ensure adhesion of whatever primer or paint is to be applied next, it is recommended that Smith's Fill-It epoxy filler be sanded before painting.
The two components of Smith's Fill-It epoxy filler are slightly different colors in order to aid in mixing. The mixed color is off-white. Custom colors of Smith's Fill-It may be provided in a sixty gallon minimum order.
MIXING TWO-COMPONENT PRODUCTS
Sophisticated adhesives, sealants and coatings are two-component systems. One part has to be mixed with another part before they are applied. After a while, a chemical reaction takes place, and what is created is a filler, paint or glue with exceptional properties. It is not possible to obtain those properties by taking some simple thing out of a can.
Each of these two parts, whether they are liquids or pastes, consists of very small components called molecules. The manufacturer designed the system so that the individual molecules of each component would react with each other in certain proportions. That is why the instructions say to mix the materials in those proportions.
If the materials are mixed in different proportions, then some molecules of one or another component are left over, scattered among the molecules of both components that did react together. In that case, the material will be softer or weaker than it should be, or will soften in water when it should not. It might be a gooey mess. It is therefore important to mix the components thoroughly, so that everywhere in the mixture the ingredients are in the correct proportions, even down to the individual molecules.
Smith's Fill-It parts A and B are made with different colors to make it easy to thoroughly mix the product. When you can see the streaks of different colors you know you must continue to smear, scrape, fold and mix until the color is uniform. The mixing tools themselves must be scraped occasionally. If mixing a paste on a flat surface, the mixing surface itself must occasionally be scraped off. When mixing liquids in a container, mix thoroughly in one container and then scrape out the entire contents into a second container and mix again.If there are any soft or gooey spots in the final cured product, that is proof that the material was not thoroughly mixed.COLOR MATCHING
The color of Smith's Fill-It Epoxy Filler, when cured, is an off-white that will yellow somewhat on exposure. Should it be desired to match the color of wood, this material can easily be changed to match any wood.
Natural wood colors range from yellow to red to tan to brown to grey or black. All these shades can be obtained by various combinations of only four color pigments: white, red, yellow and black. Dry powder pigments which are fully compatible with our products (universal liquid color concentrates are not) are available from Smith & Co.
Smith's Fill-It parts A and B should be mixed together as the product instructions recommend. Then, as each pigment is added, color will develop with mixing. Continue mixing until no further color change is seen with continued mixing. Only then add another color pigment.
Add a small amount of dry white pigment, perhaps a tablespoon or two for a mixed quart. Next, a small amount of red or yellow may be added to approximate the red-yellow balance. Then add a little black to darken to the desired color. Then, try a little more red or yellow if needed. Should the mix be too dark, add some more white to lighten the mix. The total amount of white pigment needed may be comparable to or much more than the total amount of all the other tinting pigments, as a VERY rough guide. Very dark woods will need less white, and will usually have more red than yellow.
SOME EXPERIMENTATION MAY BE NECESSARY.
