Any news on the Tattoo 22?

[K9Kampers]

Tattoo replies to an email contact that they are still in process of relocating. No date on when production will resume.

In the mean time, here's a pic of a 22 tattoo...

[miamistyle]

So is she 22 or do those roman numerals equal 22?

[Wind Chime]

Yes.

[miamistyle]

February will be two years since the pictures of the prototype were released.

Any word on when production might begin?

I want a so bad it hurts.

[BOAT]

[Mac26Mpaul]

It aint gunna happen

[dlandersson]

I'm working on it - please send me money, large amounts. I prefer small bills, non-sequential, blank white envelopes (this is Cook county, IL, after all)

February will be two years since the pictures of the prototype were released.

Any word on when production might begin?

I want a so bad it hurts.

[Russ]

February will be two years since the pictures of the prototype were released.

Any word on when production might begin?

I want a so bad it hurts.

I assume this is located somewhere in Florida.

See if you can buy it and stick some rigging on it.

From 2 years ago

Maybe they tried to float it and it sank..

[BOAT]

February will be two years since the pictures of the prototype were released.

Any word on when production might begin?

I want a so bad it hurts.

I assume this is located somewhere in Florida.

See if you can buy it and stick some rigging on it.

From 2 years ago

Maybe they tried to float it and it sank..

If it's made of fiberglass you might not be far off - it looks a bit top heavy for a glass boat.

This picture has always bothered me because the boat in the picture looks like it has a gel coat - and epoxy boats don't have gel coat - they are painted. (Epoxy does not come out of the mold smooth - it needs to be filled and sanded smooth first, and then painted). My gut tells me that boat in the picture is a fiberglass shell they pulled from the mold with gel-coat for mock-up purposes, but I could be wrong, (I probably am, because I do see they are supporting it with Styrofoam blocks like as if it really were a super lightweight epoxy boat). If that's epoxy it's one of the best sanding and painting jobs I have ever seen in my life. Still, it bothers me that they never floated it - (if they did there would be a picture - a glass boat would have been heavy).

I too wish I could get an epoxy boat like that if it really is - but I have never heard of an epoxy boat for less than 50 grand.

[sailboatmike]

I have never heard of that, just about all boats here in Australia are epoxy and they are ALL gel coat.

The only reason I know of that manufacturers dont use epoxy is to keep costs down

[BOAT]

I have never heard of that, just about all boats here in Australia are epoxy and they are ALL gel coat.

The only reason I know of that manufacturers dont use epoxy is to keep costs down

Here are images of the epoxy boat under construction - Captain Mike Inmon can explain the Emron paint in the video below - as you can see the epoxy boats are pulled without a finish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap8u56Q_Uh4


.

[Russ]

[Here are images of the epoxy boat under construction - Captain Mike Inmon can explain the Emron paint in the video below - as you can see the epoxy boats are pulled without a finish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap8u56Q_Uh4


.

I know this is a Tattoo thread. But whatever happened with that new Mac 70 Roger built? That video was 4 years ago.

[BOAT]

I would not be surprised if Roger is going through the same high cost labor difficulties of building an entire boat out of epoxy that tattoo went through.

He might not be able to sell any of them. I suspect they will be just too expensive.

It's not the epoxy vs polyester thing - polyester (what Roger made our boats out of) is 50 bucks and epoxy is 300 bucks - now - that is a big difference per gallon of resin but it's not that big a part of the boat build to make the whole thing untenable - so when you buy a 26 for 23 grand I suspect about 20% of that is for resin. Still, that's a lot - like 3 grand - so take that up to epoxy prices and you have 10 grand in resin now - so the boat has got to be closer to 40 grand to make sense - it does not quite double the price, but it's close. It's not the "epoxy" per se - but the LABOR to work with epoxy. LOTS of work to use epoxy to it's fullest - lots of sanding and labor and then you need to add a finish.

It's still a debate in the boatbuilding industry as to whether gel coat will even bond to epoxy:

http://boatworkstoday.com/archives/1668

Roger is sort of a pioneer of this - I was not aware that they were already building boats out of epoxy in Australia. All I know is what Roger has said and what I have heard from Captain Mike so maybe the Aussies are way ahead of us in this stuff.

[kadet]

Actually boats here in OZ are made from polyester, vinylester and epoxy.

Vinylester use to be the most popular as it was a hybrid poly with some epoxy chains thrown in for strength and osmosis protection and was cheaper than pure epoxy.

Most of our boat industry has moved to China or SEA now because of cheap labour and less strict EPA regs. Who knows what they are made of now

Also Gelcoats, flowcoats etc.. define a layer not a resin type, Gelcoats are special resins that are designed to form the first surface of a composite mould or part they're specially formulated to provide the part or mould surface with properties such as resistance to UV degradation and osmosis. They can be made from any resin base, so if you have Poly you use a Poly based Gelcoat if you have Epoxy you use a Epoxy based Gelcoat.

I was always taught

Poly only sticks to Poly
Vinyl sticks to all
Epoxy sticks to all

But who knows as the formulas from different companies change and I have had different brands of Poly which have not stuck well to each other. Was it weather, bad catalyst, bad prep who knows.

[sailboatmike]

Well my old Sunmaid sure isnt Vinylester, neither are most of the boats from the trailer sailor boom

They are all chops strand shot epoxy, newer ones maybe foam core vinylester

But mine sure is gel coat epoxy, as are the Boomerangs, Australs and many more