re-fiberglassing pontoon on 12.5 cat

[docjack]

Hi I recently bought an older aquacat catamaran 12.5 feet. The top is seperated from the rest of the pontoon. Any sugestions on re-fiberglassing? Thanks

[hydrofoiler]

If possible, remove the deck completely from the hull this would give you room to work. If this is not possible, just do your best with the next steps and use an old flathead screwdriver or something to seperate the deck and hull while you work on the inside edges. I suspect that you may not be able to seperate them completely because of the way the frame posts enter into the deck and are connected to the bottom of the hull. Just do your best.

Scrape away the old crusty epoxy/glue that was used to join the hull to the deck. Rough it up with some heavy grit sandpaper to get rid of any ridges or built up spots of old epoxy. Then get all the dust out with a damp rag or some acetone.

Make sure that the ENTIRE hull and deck around the edges that you plan to do any epoxy work is COMPLETELY dry. You are going to apply a bead of adhesive along the length wherever there is seperation and then close the hull up again and clamp it and scrape off the splooge.

I have done this job with west systems epoxy and adhesive filler (105 resin/ 207 hardener/ 410 filler) all available at West Marine.

Mix up the epoxy first (I do 2 pumps at a time when mixing and then more when I need it) and then add the filler until you have peanut butter consistancy. You don't want the epoxy to run at all after you apply it to the hull. It should just stay there like peanut butter.

Have a LOT of clamps at the ready when you start the job. Also make sure you do some tests with the epoxy and filler on some scraps if you have never worked with it before.

Good Luck. and let us know how it turns out

[docjack]

thanks i'll give it a try.