fiberglass removal

[repmark]

I know this question has probably been asked before but I'm new to this forum. I have a 13ft. 1970 DeSilva racing runabout that has been fiberglassed over its mahogany deck and bottum. I want to restore the boat to its natural wood finish. What is the best way remove the fiberglass down to the bare wood surface without damaging the thin wood deck?

[Jeff]

I don't have any experience with this, but here is what others had to say regarding stripping fiberglass to restore a wooden hull:
From: Scott Yanke

Judicious use of a big heat gun, a putty knife, and a utility knife will allow you to separate the plies of glass from the wood. Heat the glass until it delaminates, use the putty knife to lift the layer off and the utility knife to cut the lifted piece of glass away. Once all the glass is lifted off, then I think there will be a lot of sanding to remove the residual resin. This is a slow process, but I have used it to fix past OOPSs.


From: Visionflyr

Depending on the resin system most glass layers can be safely removed by gentle heat application. It would be unlikely that a high temp resin was used and even good epoxy systems have Tg of less than 200 F. Use a heat gun and work slowly while pulling at a corner. Don't start a fire.

[Jeff]

P.S. and welcome to the the forums repmark.

I hope you'll share some photos with us as your project gets underway.

I'm also going to move this thread to the new Wooden Boat Restoration forum which will hopefully get more interesting soon as well.

Again, welcome!

[gonzo]

Do you know why the boat was fiberglassed? It may be structural.

[Guest]

I suggest to visit the following link, you will find someone else sharing your problem.

http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=007742

Andrea