Help with my restoration. Nida stringers/deck

Yes they will, you have the filament running in the right direction this time,do not forget mat is omnidirectional and you need a whole bunch more of it than you would the 0-90 maybe 30+% more to get close in strength.

 

Correct.

But let me survive without calculating the so named "Imperial" nonsense. I am happy the world agrees on metric, I must not fall back into medieval ****.

Sorry for the rant, but sometimes USanians need to be pissed into their own shoes to wake up.

Regards
Richard

 

Here are some pics of the floor. I have two layer of 12 oz biax on the top of the Nida. I have decided to do the floor in sections with the seems over the bulkheads. Once all the panels are made I will glue/fiberglass them together at the seems. Does this sound OK?

I am going back to work tomorrow, so the momentum I gain the last couple days will slow down as I go back to the boat part time.

 

The result will most probably outstand the original craft by some extend...:?:

 

I laminated the other side of the panel that goes over the fuel tank. It was cured today, so I placed it over the tank section and there was little to no flex when I bounded over the tank. The panel was already way stiffer then the original panels that were laminated with polyester resin and 1.5 oz mat. The panel is also way stiffer then then unlaminated Coosa board. I was pretty impressed with the results.

 

You should be OK with that,no harm in a little overbuild,remember you are using glass in the best possible way. Now just work out your hard points for attachment of the seats and hardware.

 

Need Help!

I am ready to glue in the floor. I have 4 sections that basically go from bulkhead to bulkhead. The tops of my bulkhead/stringers probably are not totally perfect. If there is a section where one stringer is 1/8 -1/4 higher or lower, how noticable will that be on a boat floor? Does a boat floor have to be perfectly flat? Is there a self leveling technique to get the floor perfectly level?

How do I go from my laminated Nida-Core epoxy panel floors to a finished aesthetic appealing floor? I have researched LPU paints, but they are so expensive. I gallon of Awlgrip is almost $300.00. This does not even include the reducers and primers needed. I have watched youtube clips of people applying the material looks like the same viscosity of water. Basically you pay $300.00 for paint that is as thin as water and half of that will evaporate into the air when it dries. The prep work has to be perfect because it's too thin to cover up any imperfection. Interlux perfection is only perfection if you spend hours and hours of fairing and prep and lot's of $ on primer.

I can get 5 Gallons of gelcoat on the other hand for $150.00. It does not roll on smooth or flaten out like paint, but that's why they make sanders and rubbing compounds. On a flat surface like the boat floor, I think it would flatten out somewhat. I know gelcoat does not stick to epoxy, but was thinking I could make a floor skin out of Polyester and matt and then glue that down to the floor. What are your thoughts?

 

I would try to get the bulkheads/floors in your case close as I could ,just add some material to the top. Gelcoat! you could do a soap and water wash then abrade with 80 grit and do a test.

 

R U suggesting that Gelcoat might stick to the epoxy?

I think I might be misunderstanding what you are saying. Do you mean do a soap and water water wash, followed by 80 grit sanding on the epoxy and see if gelcoat will stick to that? I thought Polyester Gelcoat would not stick to Epoxy?

 

Do a test, it is the Amine blush that poisons the polymer reaction and soap and water will remove it, Not a solvent. The rules seem to be, cured by a week ,a washed and clean sanded surface,you are looking for the mechanical bond. But do a test! or you spring for a can of Duratec primer as a coupling agent.

 

which duratec product?

OK....I could try that. I am also willing to spring for the Duratec. The only problem with abrating the surface is that I will be sanding the actual fibers of the biax cloth, thereby weakening the floor. I can do a light sand just enough to create some secondary mechanical bond sites. I hand sanded a small section (see pic). It is difficult to tell from the PIC, but basically one direction of the biax is abrated. Is this adaquate sanding?

Also please follow the link to Duratec and please recomend which on of their primers to get

http://www.merrittsupply.com/Search.aspx?k=duratec

thanks

 

Thanks for the tip. Many of us amateurs had never heard of it until now. http://www.duratec1.com/dp04.html

 

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/polyester-over-epoxy/

 

the Duratec primer comes White Grey and black.

the one I use is the Grey 707 002

 

OK.....what about the sanding question? Is the light hand sanding I did good enough? I don't want to grind the fibers, I think you were the one that cautioned me about doing that in an earlier post.