Fiberglassing around edges

Discussion in 'Boatbuilding' started by hospadar, May 21, 2012.

  1. hospadar
    Joined: Apr 2011
    Posts: 63
    Likes: 3, Points: 8, Legacy Rep: 30
    Location: Michigan

    hospadar Junior Member

    I'm looking for some tips on fiberglassing around edges on a little plywood boat I'm building. I always end up with lots of bubbles (like fabric not bonded to plywood bubbles, not little pinhole bubbles) near the edges, presumably because I don't have a large enough radius around the edges. Unfortunately I can't put a larger radius because of the location/size/placement of the chine logs and fasteners.

    It's not really a huge deal, I just sand through the bubbles to the plywood and seal everything up with epoxy (it's more about the waterproofing than the strength anyways), but I'm wondering if there's some way I could be doing things better to avoid having to sand down and re-seal things. Perhaps a little thickened epoxy around the joint to take up the slack (would result in floating glass, but that's better than a bubble or no glass). Perhaps putting a base coat of epoxy down, and letting it get tacky to really hold the fabric in place (I'm not wild about this, my time availability doesn't always allow me wait for things like that).
     
  2. johneck
    Joined: Nov 2011
    Posts: 253
    Likes: 17, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 117
    Location: New England

    johneck Senior Member

    a couple of layers of lighter cloth would make it easier.
     
  3. rwatson
    Joined: Aug 2007
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    Location: Tasmania,Australia

    rwatson Senior Member

    If you cant build in a rounder profile, try using peelply. It allows you to force the glass down on the surface. I even stapled the peel ply on both edges to force to cloth to the surface while it cured.
     

  4. JRD
    Joined: May 2010
    Posts: 232
    Likes: 20, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 192
    Location: New Zealand

    JRD Senior Member

    Try running your glass cloth at 45 degrees to the centreline. In addition to the peelply, I have been known to add a little (very little) filler powder to thicken up the mix close to the corners too.
     
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