fiberglassing over foam/ lockley sea devil

[abbman]

Hello to everyone on the forum, I hope I'm positing this in the right location. I have been thinking about trying to repair and strengthen an old Lockley Sea Devil sailboat, currently known as the Snark Sea Skimmer. This is an all foam core monohull sailboat. I have removed all of the outer plastic coating off of the foam as it was brittle and breaking off, likely to UV degradation. The foam core looks to be very sound. I have been thinking about fiberglassing the boat to add rigidity. Now here is my main dilema. I know nothing about fibergalssing or boat restoration. I have figured that this would be a good way to introduce myself to this type of project. This was an old boat of my dad's and I've always wanted to fix it back up, and maybe add a few little things here and there. I own a Hobie 16 and there is always the chance that I may have to work with fibergalss in the future and I would much rather make my first mistakes on the monohull that my cat.

The company states that this boat can be fiberglassed. Does this sound like something that is reasonable? I know that there is a wealth of information of fiberglassing but does anyone have any suggestions/pointers on doing this kind of thing? And lastly, how thick of a layer do you think is needed to put on this boat? It's a relatively small sloop rigged boat, 12 long, 3'3'' beam, board design. It would only be sailed on lakes and flatwater. Any advise would be most appreciated.

James

[abbman]

I also meant to ask in my last post, is there any other prefered method for covering this foam core other than fibergalss? I'm fresh out of college so expense might be a pretty big factor for me. Being that it is a sailboat, weight will be a factor, but I don't think necessarily a determining one. Any thoughts?

[abbman]

Does anyone have any advise about this? It would be greatly appreciated.
James

I am also thinking about making my own sails for this boat. I am having difficulty locating any companies that may sale inexpensive sail cloth. Any ideas?

[rcloss]

Do you still have the sea devil? I may have sails for it.

[kern]

Is the foam an Airex core?
I am building a 28 footer with a 1/2" core, fibreglass inside and outside. The foam takes very well to the resin and will make a strong boat.
You don't have to be scared of adding a couple of layers of thin mat to your hull. And it is fairly cheap.
What I am curious about is, how did you manage to get the "plastic" off the foam? It is usually firmly stuck to a sealed-cell foam core.

[tmal]

My neighbor just gave me an old lockley sea devil. I am also thinking of recovering it with fiberglass. I am still weighing my options. Have you started glassing your boat Abbman? Is it going or did it go as planned?

I bought a replacement jib sail for $45.00 from the Castle craft site. They are the current maker of the sea skimmer. They also usually stock the main sail. I didn't get a price, I am planning on fixing the 3 small tears myself, ...maybe. If I screw it up good maybe I can talk rcloss out of his main sail. Here is the url for parts. they have a complete diagram pulleys, cleats, gudgeon, everything.
http://www.castlecraft.com/sea_skimmer_parts.htm