Everything went smooth for tacking the vaka seams.  I also was able to join the last of the four ama side panels (still have the ama bottom panels to do).

However, I have some concerns with the new System Three EZ Fillet product.  The product comes in two buckets with thick red resin in one and the green syrupy hardener in the other.  It is mixed in a 2:1 ratio to form the paste for making fillets.  It is marketed as simpler and easier and better since you don't have to mix normal epoxy and then add the "messy" fillers to it.  Sorry but that marketing line is a bunch of crap. 

The stuff is too thick to pump so you have to scoop it up with a measuring cup or measuring spoon.  Then scrape it all into another container for mixing.  Then the original containers have highly toxic stuff clinging to the sides that has to be wiped off.  Doing all this surely gets highly toxic stuff on your gloves so now you have to change gloves.

OK, so now it's all mixed and the red and green have turned to a dark brown.  What?  You don't want all your fillets to be an ugly dark brown?  Well, you have no choice so deal with it. 

Then I look at the mix and it certainly is not a thickened paste like I would have mixed.  Instead it's a very thick syrup.  A kind of runny syrup that surely will run when I use it on the almost vertical seams for the side panels.  I wonder if I got the mix wrong or if the product is defective or what?  I considered throwing it out and mixing my own using West System.  But I decided to give it a try.

It did run but not as much as I expected.  I was able to spread it easily into the cracks and it seemed to hold OK even for the seam that were high up and almost vertical.  But then I had one more problem.  This stuffed started to kick as I neared the stern.  It was a very abrupt change.  All of a sudden I could feel the heat and then it started to get stiff.  Needless to say I hurried up the last section and got it all done just as the stuff in the bottom of the cup got too hard to use. 

I went back a few hours later and all tacks had hardened.  The stuff in the bottom of the cup had hardened too so I have faith that the mix was correct. 

Today I use this stuff to go over the entire seams.  The consistency may work to my advantage because I plan to load a caulking gun with the stuff to lay down the bead along the seam.  I still worry that the stuff will run on the higher up seams because this bead will use more material. 

I'm not saying this product is a bad product, but I still have some reservations about it.  I'll let you know how it works out later today.

        

 

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