fiberglassing 16ft trailer sailor

[bojangles]

hi guys.

I have recently bought an old Hartley 16, and am planning on doing it up. It hasn't been fiberlassed yet, and is chined plywood construction. I'd really like to fiberglass the thing, but the brute is rather heavy and I don't really know how the heck i'd turn it over. Is it possible to fiberglass it upside down? I haven't fiberglassed anything before but know the principles. Right now it is in my garage on a trailer, and I was thinking of possibly winching it up on pulleys. Any thoughts? Also I was wondering what would be the best method of fiberglassing. Is Fiberglass cloth better or should I use roven woving? Do I put mat on either side of the cloth/roven woving, or just the outer side?
Thanks for your imput.

[antonfourie]

As it is a plywood boat you would be best to use Epoxy as it bonds better and is more waterproof than resin. Yes you can fiberglass upside down. You would do well to buy a few sheets of cheap plywood and practice glassing. I would suggest using bi-axial cloth.

[waikikin]

If you can turn it over, do it, let gravity be your friend in fibreglassing.Jeff.

[gonzo]

For water tightness, you only need to glass the seams. One way to do it without flipping the boat over, is to jack up one side at a time. I've done many times with larger boats.

[fredrosse]

I have a 14 ft O'Day Fiberglass Boat. With the boat on the trailer, I cut the centerboard well out, and fiberglassed a propeller shaft in. To turn the hull over in the garage, I built a structure of four 4 x 4 columns, with two 2 x 12 beams. I lifted the hull off the trailer, and rotated it upside down with ordinary truck cargo binders and a $20 cable winch. It took about 4 hours, and I did it alone.

This was necessary to finish the fiberglassing of the shaft tube on the exterior of the hull. When this was done, I turned it over again and set it back on the trailer. The investment of time saved several hours of trying to do fiberglass work upside down.

[Roly]

The cheapest way for a boat that size would be to make a semi-circular
cradle out of reject heavy gauge ply and rotate it with the help of a few mates. You could probably even do it with only a heap of old tyres strategically placed.
(And borrowed muscle)
I built lifting gear for my turn-over as we have to replace the keel and need
the adjustment to reposition it.

[bbd boat]

i have rotated a ts 16 all that is required is a box of beer and thirsty mates they are surprisingly light and polyester resin is sweet as so long as you really sand well so resin will key in. poly is heaps cheaper easyer to work with and ch ch weather at the moment you will be waiting till spring for epoxy to cure