Building a 2.5" over/under dredge

[Bill_saf]

dude!

they look dam good did you put in pocktes on top

 

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[Bill_saf]

I'm dieing to take a look at your shop I see the drops from the ceiling for your vac and see the cyclone in the corner and the cabinet saw! man I want to come to you shop and go to work I miss the shop I had big time.

 

[SHoward]

dude!

they look dam good did you put in pocktes on top

Not yet, I did get the plywood decks glued on today. I'm going to form drink holders and storage trays next but can't put them on until I get the frame built and laid out. I'll be starting the frame next weekend.

 

[SHoward]

I'm dieing to take a look at your shop I see the drops from the ceiling for your vac and see the cyclone in the corner and the cabinet saw! man I want to come to you shop and go to work I miss the shop I had big time.

This is actually the first thing I've built in almost 2 years. Health issues have kept me out of the shop.... It's nice to be back !!!!

 

[Bill_saf]

SH

are you cutting the foam with a hot wire or a saw and then sanding?

 

[SHoward]

SH

are you cutting the foam with a hot wire or a saw and then sanding?

I cut it all on the table saw. I then used contact cement to laminate everything together and cleaned it up with a light sanding.

 

[SHoward]

This is actually the first thing I've built in almost 2 years. Health issues have kept me out of the shop.... It's nice to be back !!!!

Having said that, I couldn't resist. I went back out after supper and started bending the steel tube for the pump mount and sluice end support.

My conduit bending ain't what it used to be !!!

 

[SHoward]

One more piece of the puzzle complete. I took the pump off my 7 h.p. trash pump and installed a Keene PH- 160. I had to bore and thread the impeller to 3/4-16 and bore out the mounting bolt counter sinks. The bolts that came with the pump were the wrong thread pitch and the new bolt heads were slightly to large. Nothing is ever as easy as the original plan.

The metal "Roll Cage" will go away when I mount the pump to the dredge frame.

 

[Reed Lukens]

If you are going to use the UR in the undercurrent then there will not be enough water flow for it to work correctly. So just use regular carpet and the expanded in the top half of the undercurrent and that will hold the gold. The you can use the UR below it and you can also reverse their positions for testing. The UR needs a steeper angle to run then regular dredge riffles, so if you are using regular riffles up top and then UR below you will have a conflict for the needed angles. But you can run the UR in the upper sluice section and the carpet with expanded in the lower undercurrent and it will still work great. The wife and I went back east for a couple of weeks and picked up a new trailer so I was gone for the start of this thread...

 

[SHoward]

After searching all of the marina's around here to no avail ( they only had it in qt cans at $35 a can), I finally broke down and ordered 2 gallons of polyester resin online. It should be here by the end of the week. I'm off Monday so if the weather cooperates I'll start glassing the floats then.

 

[Bill_saf]

Did you do any glass work on the floats yet any up dates?

 

[SHoward]

Did you do any glass work on the floats yet any up dates?

I just came in from the shop.... I got the first layer on one of the floats this morning. I should be able to get a second layer on this afternoon.

 

[SHoward]

BTW, That's not pink..... It's salmon !

 

[Bill_saf]

sounds a lil fishy to me hehehehe

 

[SHoward]

I'm moving along with it, I got the fiber matt layer on the bottom, back end and one side. Hope to get the other side done later tonight. The polyester resin sets a lot faster than epoxy so maybe by midnight I'll have 2 out of three layers complete. Then I have to do a butt load of sanding to prep for the final layer. This weekend I hope to get the second float this far and do the final glassing on both at the same time.

Here's a pic of the bottom with the fiberglass matt layer, like I said, lots of sanding before the final layer goes on.

 

[SHoward]

Well, finally done for the night, finished laying the fiberglass matt on float #1. Hopefully I'll be able to get the same done on float #2 this weekend.

 

[Bill_saf]

SH looking good so how do you like the poly?

 

[SHoward]

SH looking good so how do you like the poly?

Other than the expense, I really like it. Much longer work time than epoxy and hardens much faster. It costs me $12 more a gallon than epoxy because of shipping. All of the boat repair shops around here just use epoxy because they can use epoxy over poly with no problem. So if you live near a boat manufacturer or in Florida, Texas or California you should be able to get for the same price or even cheaper than epoxy.

I ended up using 2 oz matt just on the bottom and 1 oz matt on the sides, I knew the matt was going to suck up some resin so I ordered a little extra and I'm glad I did. I'm still going to order a little more today for touch up and finish work.

I got out and did a little sanding this morning, that's not going to be as bad as I thought. The poly knocks down fast and doesn't clog up sand paper at all.
I still have to lay matt on the top deck and then the last layer of cloth over everything.

And another high note on the poly, there is no way I could have gotten this much done in on day with epoxy, within 2 hours I was able to roll it over and do the next side. Oh yeah, Humidity was at 90 percent and 54 degree's, having heat and air in the shop helps alot!

 

[SHoward]

SH looking good so how do you like the poly?

Other than the expense, I really like it. Much longer work time than epoxy and hardens much faster. It costs me $12 more a gallon than epoxy because of shipping. All of the boat repair shops around here just use epoxy because they can use epoxy over poly with no problem. So if you live near a boat manufacturer or in Florida, Texas or California you should be able to get for the same price or even cheaper than epoxy.

I ended up using 2 oz matt just on the bottom and 1 oz matt on the sides, I knew the matt was going to suck up some resin so I ordered a little extra and I'm glad I did. I'm still going to order a little more today for touch up and finish work.

I got out and did a little sanding this morning, that's not going to be as bad as I thought. The poly knocks down fast and doesn't clog up sand paper at all.
I still have to lay matt on the top deck and then the last layer of cloth over everything.

And another high note on the poly, there is no way I could have gotten this much done in on day with epoxy, within 2 hours I was able to roll it over and do the next side. Oh yeah, Humidity was at 90 percent and 54 degree's, having heat and air in the shop helps alot!

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Bill thanks for the heads up about the poly!!!

 

[Bill_saf]

I'm glad I could be of help with the poly and I glad you like how it works and what you can get done in one day.

It dose cost a lil more in small quanties as quarts halfe gal's and one gallon but you dont have to pay a haz-mat fee till you get a 5gal bucket or 55 gal drum.

The bigest draw back to it is poly does not have the shelf life like expoy. If you have some left and you can use it up in 4 months it's good to go I would use it as a base coat to seal then us new poly on the glass.

Yes for any repair use epoxy.

Im looking foward to seeing how your floats and dredge turn out.