Bondo?

[Tohbi]

working on the tank test model of the '87 ac racer. the hull has six coats of bondo over c-flex. i'm going to add a couple more layer of epoxy cloth. what to do about the bondo?

i'm receiving different data about bondo: take it off, leave it on, or take some of it off before adding more cloth. i've been told it absorbs moisture and isn't a strong enough adhesive to be under the cloth, but i've also been told it's okay to coat over it.

so, i'm thoroughly confused. to be safe, i should remove it, but that is a whole lotta work. what can the list members tell me?

[gonzo]

C-flex is a material that needs complete saturation with resin to be structurally sound. The Bondo was a quick and easy way to build a tank test model. However, it is not a boat, but a model. C-flex will give you all the info you need to work with their product. Bondo is a cosmetic material with little structural value.

[ClarkT]

This is a model, right?..you won't be leaving this in the water for days-weeks-months at a time.

If you are going to skin the bondo with epoxy and fabric, I would not worry about the bondo at all.

[Tohbi]

taking gonzo's suggestion, i contacted glen-l and asked about c-flex. they sell the stuff and have been designing and building boats for a long time. barry witt indicated it would probably be easiest to start over than remove the bondo.

i would probably leave the bondo if i could mechanically fasten at least the first layer of cloth. but it would be very difficult to hit the frames with screws, going through the bondo and c-flex.

so, since i'm not going to start from scratch, i'm going to have to remove enough of the bondo so the new glass will attach to the c-flex. i don't think this will require removing all the bondo but it's going to be messy.