{"id":387,"date":"2014-08-10T08:24:16","date_gmt":"2014-08-10T15:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projects.mykos.org\/?p=387"},"modified":"2015-06-08T09:20:16","modified_gmt":"2015-06-08T16:20:16","slug":"the-graphite-bottom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/?p=387","title":{"rendered":"The graphite bottom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/applying-graphite-1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-297\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/applying-graphite-1.png\" alt=\"applying graphite 1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One of the things I knew I wanted to do from the beginning was apply the black bottom. This is a mixture of graphite and silica powder in with the epoxy. It gives the bottom of the canoe a finish that is very abrasion resistant and super slick. It does hide the beauty of the wood, but it&#8217;s below the waterline so when the canoe is floating it won&#8217;t be visible.<\/p>\n<p>I measured up to the projected waterline amidships and picked the strip that was closest to that and chose that as the masking point. Following a strip made the line more aesthetically pleasing than following a straight line I think.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/applying-graphite-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-298 \" src=\"http:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/applying-graphite-2.png\" alt=\"applying graphite 2\" width=\"944\" height=\"708\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Once you mix the graphite and silica into the epoxy it becomes <strong>very<\/strong> runny. Definitely a throw away clothes job as well. It went on pretty easy though.<\/p>\n<p>You want to make sure you pull the masking tape off after the black goo has set, but before it&#8217;s fully cured. I think it was probably about 4 or 5 hours for me. Environmental conditions (and of course the epoxy you use) will make this vary. If it was fully cured I think you&#8217;d be chipping masking tape out with a chisel. And you&#8217;d be sharpening that chisel a lot.<\/p>\n<p>Once it&#8217;s fully cured it&#8217;s rock hard. Really noticeably much harder than the clear epoxy on the rest of the boat.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/graphite-coated.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-300\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/graphite-coated.png\" alt=\"graphite coated\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I did two coats black goo. They are fairly thick coats, but it adds weight so I didn&#8217;t want to go overboard.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC00733.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-389\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC00733.jpg\" alt=\"DSC00733\" width=\"960\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC00733.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC00733-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC00733-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After the final coat is cured, I buffed the black finish with a scotchbrite pad (aka green scrubbie). Started by hand but then inspiration struck and I put it under the random orbital sander. That made the job go much quicker. The green scrubbie leaves a matte finish which is unbelieveably smooth to the touch. It&#8217;s not hard to see how much this will make the boat slide over rocks, weeds and logs more easily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; One of the things I knew I wanted to do from the beginning was apply the black bottom. This is a mixture of graphite and silica powder in with the epoxy. It gives the bottom of the canoe a finish that is very abrasion resistant and super slick. It does hide the beauty of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-huron-cruiser"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":390,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions\/390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mykos.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}