How much copper wire?

[riverron]

How much copper wire will I need for the build? I have already purchased 2 25' rolls from CLC.

Thanks!

[slick95]

Bought one roll but did not use. The copper wire would not have been strong enough to pull any of the lower hull parts together. I used .041 aircraft safety wire, like this:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/a ... ckkey=5661


Jeff

[riverron]

Thanks Jeff for the heads up. I have read some of the challenges on here and some of the blogs about pulling the bow together. I did find a spool of electric fence wire I have that is a little bit thicker gauge, so I should be fine. I just don't want to run out once I get started.

[ddemasie]

For my build I used a 19 gauge stainless steel wire that I purchased at Menard's.

The label says it is rated at 25 lbs, - it was sufficient for 90% off all the stitches I made - in those areas needing a little more force (like pulling together the bow sections) I just went with multiple stitches - spaced very close together.

It comes in 30' rolls - 3.99 per role. I think I used a total of 3 or 4 rolls throughout the build.

[riverron]

Thanks for the feedback Dennis!

[John in CC]

A little advice on getting the seems together at the bow is to be prepared before the action takes place. Have your blocks and screws ready and don't worry about making a few extra holes. After reading all the horror stories I was ready and it really was not that big of a deal.

[ddemasie]

Here is a quick picture of initial hull bottom bow coming together with the 19 gauge stitching - needed to be about 2 inches apart and slowly, alternatively tightening the stitches - I let it 'rest' for a few hours between each tightening - took about 2 days total to get it completely together, but it worked with just the stitching you see here.

[John in CC]

Nice job! I found warming up the plywood with a heat gun works pretty well. Have your screws and blocks ready to pull things together when you mate the uppers!

[ddemasie]

Here is the picture of how I started the process - Used very long stitches to begin with that I tightened down a little at a time - and let it rest for a couple of hours, then came out and tightened again. I covered the plywood with a warm water soaked towel between tightening sessions. I did break a few stitches during the process by tightening a little too much in one 'session', but the other stitches always held the load while I quickly replaced the one that snapped.

[riverron]

Thanks for all the good advice!