Hello and a question about major fibreglass surgery

Hello all

I have a question about cruising catamarans. I was going to put this in the catamaran section but the question could equally apply to monohulls so I thought I would ask here in order to appeal to as wide an audience as possible and attract more replies and opinions. I hope that is OK?

We (me and Mrs Cringle) have looked at several boats but can't find what we are looking for, partly because of budget constraints. If we could take the best bits from one boat and fit them to the best bits of another boat that would be perfect! Soooo, what I need to know is this: is it feasible/practical/possible to consider fairly major fibreglass work on a new (to us) boat? Specifically, could I cut the bridgedeck roof off an older catamaran (foam cored GRP sandwich with polyester resin) and build/fit a new bridgedeck roof in foam cored GRP epoxy sandwich?

I understand that epoxy will bond to polyester but it will only be a mechanical (not chemical) bond. Is this a problem? Would a mechanical only bond be sufficient strength-wise to hold a bridgedeck roof on?!

Have I missed anything? Is this do-able?

Thanks in advance.

Bill

 

Perfectly feasible and also the best way to do it assuming good build practices, a chemical bond is always great but that ship has long sailed.
steve.

 

Thanks for your reply Steve. So it looks like my plan is not as mad as it first seemed. I'd better do some serious thinking before I tell the wife that she can have what she wants after all!