Everything Fiberglass Thread

[RivennHewn]

When working with epoxy it is possible, ordinary even, to apply coat upon coat prior to full cure, thus eliminating much of the need to remove the amine blush, which only appears after cure.

For example, when laying up fiberglass, the glass is saturated, squeegee'd and rolled. Before that cures more epoxy mix can be added to fill the weave of the fabric or texture of the non-woven, waiting only long enough for the initial batch to begin to kick. Or more layers of glass can also be added before previous layers cure enough for the blush to appear.

I’m new.

It’s going to go slow

 

[ez-duzit]

EZ,

Would love to see some of your projects.

Post up a few pics when you can

My last power boat on which I did a major restoration, a 48' Grandy Marlineer built in 1963. During the restoration all the decks and upperworks were glassed over using WEST epoxy; the glassing was only a very tiny part of the project of course.

 

[royce]

Rivenhewn,
Another good reason to hot coat your resin is because you get a chemical bond.
If you let individual coats cure, you are relying on a mechanical bond only.

You may know this already, but west system has a book you can get free, online.
It is very detailed and a great resource.
It is a good read even if you are not using their product.
Sorry to **** in.

Royce

 

[Skiff Builder]

RH,
To clarify, you are working with Polyester Resin on this project?

On Epoxy resin, System 3 Silvertip has a 36 hour window for a chemical bond and never blushed on my center console build -cold wx with unvented propane heat. It was premium priced but it's properties made it worth it for that particular build.
Skiff

* I try to wipe off the wifes blow dryer, but she always finds a spot of resin on it!!

 

[RivennHewn]

EZ,
Hell of a boat! Do you have any pics of it in progress?

Royce,

Always welcome to **** in here!

Skiff,

I’m thinking this is a learning project, so I’ll be using epoxy on some areas, poly for areas where I will just use chop strand mat, and penetrating epoxy for a few wood details. This way I get a chance to work with all of them.

 

[ez-duzit]

Another boat I owned and restored prior to the Marlineer, a 32' Chris Craft Tournament Bridge Sea Skiff, built in 1962. Decks glassed over using WEST epoxy. Original photo taken from the Marlineer's cockpit.

 

[RivennHewn]

Love them old boats!

After 28 days of rain this January, finally got a chance to pull the skiff outside and start chasing cracks.

A carbide burr in the die grinder and the multimaster kicked up some dust!

My goal today was to get things opened up to check moisture levels.

 

[TLCObsession]

Ed Roth Lives again!
You just inspired me to tackle this old tv car prop I got(mantis)....ya I'll put it on a VW pan.

Rad!

 

[engineer2]

Glad you guys started this thread. I'm thinking about some underhood parts for a future project, so I need to learn about high temperature resins and materials.

 

[RivennHewn]

Glad you guys started this thread. I'm thinking about some underhood parts for a future project, so I need to learn about high temperature resins and materials.

Sounds interesting. Any more info?

Post your progress!

 

[engineer2]

Sounds interesting. Any more info?

Nothing yet. It might be a year before I get to it, LOL. Air induction for an older car that never had it. Need a product to survive 250F underhood temps.

 

[RivennHewn]

No progress to report.

But I did find some inspiration to get this thing moving!

 

[Growlertdi]

Interesting thread, living in a lake community myself, I should eventually get a boat to float around on.. Ill be keeping up with this thread.

 

[RivennHewn]

Finally moving again.

I got some improved moisture content readings, some nice weather, and a good excuse for social distancing.

Time to prep all the patches.

 

[RivennHewn]

Gotta get a little ugly before it gets better.

 

[RivennHewn]

Going to give the new HF soda blaster a try.

I’ll post a review later.

 

[RivennHewn]

Ok, the HF soda blaster works.
It actually removed the top paint rather well.

The Gel coat is about an 1/8” thick, and that didn’t go so well.
Too slow, and too much air consumption.

Flap disc is much faster, but also a lot more mess.

The blaster will come in handy for other projects, but not this one.

I did jump in and start applying glass to the repair areas. Each got 4 layers of chop strand with laminating resin.

 

[ez-duzit]

...I did jump in and start applying glass to the repair areas. Each got 4 layers of chop strand with laminating resin.

Very weak. Use bi-axial instead.

 

[RivennHewn]

Very weak. Use bi-axial instead.

Just filling low spots.

Will get 2-3 layers of 1708.

 

[ez-duzit]

Just filling low spots.

Will get 2-3 layers of 1708.

That's still the wrong way to do it. Use the bi-axial first, for a strong bond, then the mat for cosmetics.

 

[RivennHewn]

That's still the wrong way to do it. Use the bi-axial first, for a strong bond, then the mat for cosmetics.

It may not be optimal, but it’s similar to what the boat is made of.
The wood is the main structure, so this is going to be fine.

Once I prep the whole gunwale, and add the full length biaxial it should be stronger than original. It is a 1961 boat.

Next time I’ll pay more attention.

Thanks again for adding to the thread

 

[555]

A friend builds fiberglass display pieces for museums. Some are pretty unusual, like a 10 foot replica of a human tooth or a full sized Mastadon. On the side is make parts for Chevy Novas. I've helped him pull some molds and do a bit of glassing, but it is not my cup of tea.

 

[RivennHewn]

Ya, I don’t see fiberglass being a new career.

Kinda like concrete, I do it about every other year just to remind myself why I don’t do it for a living

 

[RivennHewn]

Made a bit more progress this weekend!

Ready for a last sand out-removing the Gelcoat, then the final coats and the gunwales will be finished.

 

[RivennHewn]

Too rainy for outside work today. Time for filling the seats with flotation foam.

Equal parts A, B, and R!

 

[ncboat]

Rainier? Good match

 

[InjectorService]

Too rainy for outside work today. Time for filling the seats with flotation foam.

Equal parts A, B, and R!

Don't drink the wrong one!

 

[RivennHewn]

Rainier? Good match

Seemed to work well for me!

Don't drink the wrong one!

Just drink the one with a good head of “foam”

 

[RivennHewn]

A wonderful afternoon in Seattle.

Spent the time giving my oars some attention.

They are not the best, but they’ll do for now. They were very weathered, grey and moldy.

A quick sand and some oxcylic acid has them looking much better.

I’ll need to let them dry, and then some penetrating epoxy and a coat of varnish.

I’ll add the leather guards and stops, and row til I’m sore!

Picked up some old bronze oarlocks too.

 

[RivennHewn]

Got the oars coated with the TotalBoat penetrating epoxy.

It takes a couple days to dry. Also picked up the spar varnish.

 

[RivennHewn]

I was looking at way to much time and effort to remove the old gel coat from the floors, not to mention the mess in my shop/yard.

Decided to have it removed at the blasters. They are using plastic media.

Not as expensive as I thought, and is so worth the money.

Grinding/sanding fiberglass *****.

This will give me a fresh, clean surface to layer on the new fiberglass.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I am looking for the MOST INEXPENSIVE non-organic (no wood fiber) core material that exists. I want to make 4x8 sheet of 1/4" sheathing for an enclosed trailer (aluminum buckles in the heat).

 

[ez-duzit]

1--you might look into Coroplast. Never used it, myself.

 

[RivennHewn]

Finally!

Moving again.

Dropped my boat at the blaster, only to sit in line for weeks.

Then, he decided that he couldn’t handle the job due to his equipment not wanting to run at the lower pressure needed to do fiberglass.

Made arrangements with another blaster, only to be back in the line.

Brought it home today, and hoping to get some time to re-enforce the floors.

It’s summer, and I need to be out on the water!

 

[RivennHewn]

Everybody know the acronym for boat

Break
Out
Another
Thousand

Tonight, I was feeling a bit creative, and came up with another acronym for BOAT.

B-too
O-much
A- F’n
T- maintenance

How’d I do?

 

[RivennHewn]

“Ya mean there’s more to boating than what wine your guest might enjoy?”

 

[RivennHewn]

A nice, long weekend gave me some time to get some glass work and sanding done on the little skiff.

Also got to do some prawns and crabs too!

Been eating good this week!

 

[RivennHewn]

Back to glass’n!

Made a template to cut the bow seat, transferred it the glass, cut it out, and laid it up.

I added some chop-strand to the edges, and turned it up the sides about 1-1/2”.

 

[RivennHewn]

A bit more progress today.

Cut all the pieces of 1708, then got the rear part done.

The 1708 doesn’t like to roll, so the radius edges will get a couple layers of chop

 

[PugetDude]

A nice, long weekend gave me some time to get some glass work and sanding done on the little skiff.

Also got to do some prawns and crabs too!

Been eating good this week!

Long way down to Dabob for those spot prawns...?
Really miss the fresh Puget Sound seafood.
I swear I could have walked across the bay on the crab pot buoys on opening day...