Scarfing

I began the sanding process for my scarfed panels about two weeks ago. I have one set for the sides that is 19" wide and one set for the bottom which is 29" wide. The 19" ones were shaped first so I decided to put my scarf jig to the test. The jig can be seen it a previous post, but it consists of a 4' x 4' piece of 3/4" plywood, a 6' piece of STRAIGHT el cheapo pine and a 2 x 4. To get even pressure on the joint I planed down the ends of the 2 x 4 to enhance the boards natural camber. I used two bolts to hold it all together while the epoxy dried. Since the exposed part of the plywood is essentially all end-grain (likes to soak up epoxy) I mixed two successive batches. The plywood didn't soak up as much as I thought it should, so next time I'll just mix up one slightly larger batch. Epoxy will chemically bold to itself if it is not cured yet, so pre-coating with one batch, then using another to actually stick the pieces together produces a very strong bond. You get about 45 minutes from what I have read. Since My plywood didn't look like it was going to soak up any more epoxy I only waited about 10 minutes between batches. After clamping it all together I had to stay out of the garage for a day so I wouldn't be tempted to release it early.
The finished panel is 15'9" since the two 8' panels overlap 3". That is a pretty long panel to move. Since the epoxy won't be at it's ultimate strength for about 5 days (maybe longer, it's getting cooler here) I was worried about moving them. Even with the widest grip I could manage I still had visions of plywood snapping. The scarf joints actually look pretty good. There are some spots where glue didn't squeeze out, but when I tested them with my finger they are hard about 1/4" under the edge. I will fill these with epoxy before I put the panel on the boat (and put that side toward the inside.)