cool weather glassing

i would like to do some glass work on my boat tomorrow.I will be using polyester resin.i live in mississippi and the weather is calling for a temperature in the low 50's tomorrow. What would the ratio of resin to mekp be?I will be working outside.any suggestions and advice would be appreciated.

 

How thick is the laminate going to be? You can go up to 2%. This link may help you:

http://www.fibreglast.com/category/Learning_Center

 

Are their any way you can get the temperature up maybe some heat lamps

 

Heat lamps no because they are localised heat but a blower heater ok
What are you glassing ??
is it possible to tent over what ever you are doing and get it warm before you start if possible and then cover when you finished and keep it warm for couple of hours .
What is the humidity level as well ?? if the humidity is high will slow the resin going off as well . so temprature and humidity are both problems to try and get over !!. Remember its warmth you want and not heat !! 18c to 22 c is ideal .
It is possible to use more catalyst !, 2% is ok as long as the lay up is not to thick !,3 layers of 450 CSM glass is ok at 2% , Takes a while to go hard and will get warm all by its self . 10c is cool but not cold !

 

A tent is the way they do it here in the shipyard. Simple plastic sheet over PVC pipe to cover the work area plus an electric heater to keep things warm at night to ensure cure.
Dont blow the heater at your work...just warm the tent zone.

 

The minimum temperature at which MEKP does its job decently is 15 degrees C. So make sure your laminate reaches at least that temperature, or the laminate will be undercured.

Otherwise revert to using BPO and DMA for curing, but water resistance will be an issue then.

 

thanks for the help but i think i will wait till the temp to come up.here in the deep south it dosent get cold often next week it will be warming up into the mid 70s

 

i am rebuilding a 16 ft trihull.I have all my deck panels cut and am ready to start glassing.It seems to me it would be simpler to glass the panels before attaching them to the stringers then come back and glass over the seams,screwholes and corners.I find my glassing skills are much better when i can work off sawhorses.what do you all think is it possible to do it this way?i will be using 2 layers of 1oz chopped strand mat i figure that should be enough?suggestions?.i will have to wait till it warms up to glass so i am going over my plans again to make sure this project is a success

 

It's much easy to install the stringers and then glass it all at one time.

Two layers 1 oz mat is too little glass to be of any value, use at least one 1.5oz mat and a one 24oz roving. If you have the 1oz mat, use two of them and one roving.

There are other types of glass fabric you can use, but roving is the easiest to find.

 

Using polyester resin ?? a good idea is to make sure the stringers have a nice radius on the two top corners about the same as your little finger , Glass does not like going round corners and if the radius is to small It will have a bubble all the way along the top edge . Stringers need to be well glassed and starting 80mm on the hull then going up the side of the stringer and half way down the other side then repeat the same from the other side of the stringer !! In reality you should end up with two layers of 24 oz woven roving up each side and over the top !! The stringer is meant to be strong and the glass down onto the hull needs to be well laminated and well stuck !!
Strength and durability are the key points so if the glass eventually come away from the wooden stringer like it will some time in the future then just the glass alone is strong anyway !!!.

 

Sorry' I read it wrong, I thought you were talking about glassing the stringers.

Two 1oz mat would work on the deck, but is very thin, more mat or a layer of light roving or cloth will help it to survive in high traffic areas. The bottom side needs to be done too, the two mat will work for that. I like to glass the floor after it's installed and secured in place.

 

The. Stringers are molded into the Hull.all I need to do is install the deck.I don't see how it is easier to glass whole panels in the boat versus a sawhorse?it seem as though you would back yourself into a corner

 

Glassing it on sawhorses means you need glass it once out of the boat and then twice inside the boat. 1. cover the wood, 2 put it in the boat and glass all the seams and edges, 3 glass all the screw holes, seams and such, 4 then possibly more work to fair the lumps and uneven areas from doing the glass work at different times.

Do it inside the boat and all the edges seams and screw holes are covered at the same time with no odd lumps or uneven areas.

The boat is only 16' long, so you can easily just reach in over the side to do that last small amount if needed.

 

Use peel ply !!

 

Not sure where you're going with that.