Gluing bulkhead

[fallguy]

So we have established that epoxy is much more expensive.Is it essential?Not really.A small boat built of polyester doesn't have to have alternatives just for the sake of it.I also doubt that anybody will be paying $80 an hour for the work.I despair of the trend to use epoxy as the universal cure for any boat problem that needs fixing and the bigger the boat,the bigger the leap in cost.I would estimate that upwards of 98% of all boats are built with polyester on a global basis and just as in the days of wooden boats,the economic driver for professionals is keeping the cost down by using appropriate solutions.Or pricing yourself out of the market.It is no bad thing to apply the same discipline as an amateur,unless one has abundant funds to throw at a project.Which leads me to point out that amateur built boats tend to be harder to sell when the time comes and the price has to be suitably low to tempt buyers.Leading to a poor return on the time and money consumed.Just for the record,I have used over a hundred tons of epoxy products over the years-but only when necessary.

We have established that the thread has run out of valued answers for the OP and the conversation has devolved into an argument over whether to spend $3 more to use epoxy when noone ever insisted epoxy and when the original resin used was unknown.

It doesn't matter what resin the OP uses here. But if the area is hard to reach, a better resin is a wee bit more forgiving. However, if he has an ester on the shelf; it would be foolish to go buy epoxy for the job.

Have a great Monday all.

 

[mrdebian]

Back to the initial question. I will use polyester resin as this is what I got handy.
I can reach with difficulty the bulkhead with one hand but I can't reach it with my two hands in order to put in the right place the mat cloth.
Does anyone have any picture with a DIY tool that might be possible to put in place a wet mat with resin ready to stick on the bulkhead witout falling in pieces?

Thanks a lot for the replies.

 

[DogCavalry]

After you've sanded the area enough to get a good bond, pre-wet the area with a 4" mini roller. Then you can place the glass tape on the resin, with a reasonable expectation that it will stay where you put it. Once in place you can saturate it with the roller.
Don't worry about squeegeeing out the excess resin. The few extra grams aren't worth the frustration off getting it nicely done, then shifting everything out of place so you have to start over.

If you're going to use polyester resin, then I'd also get a VOC mask.

 

[ondarvr]

Put the glass on a brush and reach in to put it in place.

Use a fan to move some air, you won't need to be in there long.

It won't make much of a difference what resin you use, you aren't trying to do anything but seal up some pin holes. I'd probably smear some 5200 on there if it was a hassle to glass it.

 

[wet feet]

The usual way to bond the two halves of a kayak together is to use a brush that has had a stick attached to the handle to allow it to reach the extremities.For the bulkhead you don't need such a long stick.As with bonding the hull,you might find it more comfortable to invert the hull and this will also allow the styrene fumes to escape as they are denser than air.