Wet transom wood, 1982 Glasply

Laminating

Ok Let start with the preparation to make sure all is ready to go
Surfaces need to be sanded and smooth and ready to go .
Plus corners! Internal corners need to be coved, the coving is really important strength wise and to make glass easier to lay and look better. The radius that fits pretty good in most any situation, its the size of a 30 mm diameter plastic pipe , glass lays nice is easy to roll and wet out . Can use any kind of bog to cove with as long as it holds up and stays put.
Needs to be smooth and no lumps and hollows!
Wetting out glass doesn’t need to be hard work first wet out the surface with a generous coat of resin then hang the glass, quickly use you mohair roller loaded with resin and press the glass down onto the wet surface , (it’s easier still if the glass has been pre cut and fits good )wet out the glass and don't spare the resin on the first layer make sure it’s really wet . Now the second layer!!, this needs to be put in place and careful pressing with your mohair roller , if you use your hands and fingers you will press patch’s and leave marks that will have very little to no resin and they are quite hard to wet out as it's the layer underneath that's the biggest problem .
Ok when its all wet keep rolling with you mohair roller to make sure there are absolutely no dry fibres any where .
The mohair roller is able to pick up resin and deposit it on dry parts!!
This is the time to use peel ply Again use you mohair roller and quickly roll down one edge then work from the middle gently to the outsides ,Till everything is in place and pinned down now use you hard roller and roll the bubbles out and any surplus resin the peel ply will carry to the edge .Rolling wet glass id easy . You only need a small amount of pressure on the roller, like between two fingers. Now try rolling a small patch firmly and see what happens!!. You can squash just about all the resin out of the glass with too much pressure on the roller and that is not a good idea .
Have a good look at you hard roller the grooves and or fins allow some resin to remain but its never enough, practice make perfect.
The small dia roller has small grooves so don't press hard .
Rolling corners !!roll towards the corner and lift off then from the otherside roll towards the corner again . you will notice a acumination of resin so gently roll from one flat side around the corner and move some of the resin out !!
If you roll hard round a internal corner you will squeeze most of the resin out of the glass and as the roller moves away it will pull the resin starved glass with it and you have a bubble and they usually hard to get out .
The same rolling over a external corner be gentle and don't squeeze the resin out of the glass , roll to the corner from each side then lightly around the corner .
Glass does not like going round external corners and fibres stick up and become like needles once they go hard .
Peel ply will help hold the fibres down and the resin in place. If you can master peel ply it can be your greatest friend for making a good job !!

This is laminating using any kind of resin be it polyester Vinylester or even epoxy .

 

Hey tunnels...any tricks for overhead glass work. smooth surface sailboat hull.

Boat with a hole in the bottom. 45 x45 bias 9ox cloth , times two , stagered overlap , is what has been callled for .. one square meter of cloth bond.

The inside glasswork is finished...only the outside needs to be done.

 

Photos ?? show me what you got over head glassing is two person job have done many times and takes practice and a quick pair of hands !!!have a roller in each hand !!. what glass and what resin ?? peel ply to finish ??

 

Paint next

We have made good progress, slow but steady, maybe not quite the same as a pro job. But overall pleased with the results.

We have been fairing the transom getting it ready for final finish and getting the removed stringer/battery trays preped to go back in. Lots of sanding and grinding. One thing I have learned is to plan it out well in advance as the polyester requires sanding once cured and before you can proceed with the next step. The more parts that get installed the harder it becomes to sand around everything.

I have a question about paint, we plan to repaint the inside of the transom, the engine bay and everything you would normally see when you lift the doghouse.

I would like to eliminate the sanding step once we glass in the last few pieces. Is it possible to apply paint directly to this "fresh" polyester before it cures out and needs to be sanded? If so what is recommended?

We were thinking some type of a epoxy would be durable.....Thanks, J

 

For paint inside any where and specially in down and around the bilge areas Flo coat takes a lot to better it !! trouble with glass if you dont sand the surface and knock off all the fibres that are sticking up then they really stand out when you paint and very visable . Me i use a small paint roller and put on a generous coat !! to make it flow out better mix a little laminating resin in with the flo coat . its easyer to roll , smooths out better and just leaves a slight textured surface that helps hide the roughness you covering up .
Lasts for long time , is resistant to almost anything such as pertol ,diesel, and oils etc and what ever else you get in the bilges !!.
A bucket of really hot soapy water and something that smells nice and you can scrubb the area every now and then . I dont have any drain holes in my boats and use the bilge pump to get rid of all the water and soap etc etc . keeps everything 100% looking good and no smells from rotting fish bait or blood etc etc !! .

 

I presume the "flocoat" is essentially gelcoat with the styrene already added.....? I hope so...I didnt know what flocoat is until I looked it up....

I realize I have to sand the resin before I coat over it..........assuming I let it cure...?
Is there any reason that I cant apply the flocoat while the resin is still tacky?

What I have to do is glass the stringers back in, (2) on each side and some battery trays (plywood) that rest on the outer stringer and the chine. My thoughts are to get everything sanded and scuffed. Tab in the outer stringer to the transom and hull, install the battery tray and then paint that area or cover w/flocoat. That way if I didnt complete it all at once I would only have to scuff up the edge of the paint/flocoat where I stopped....

Does this make sense...? I know I am not going to be very fast at this and unsure of how far I can get in a day......and trying to minimize the blasted sanding........

Can I mix my own flocoat by just adding pigment and styrene to resin..........?

 

Sanding fiberglass is one of those universal things, mention it in any language and the reaction will be the same.

I believe there was an article years ago in Professional Boatbuilder about secondary bonding in polyester layups. The upshot was that there was very little difference in strength between a properly prepared surface and an unwaxed, unprepared surface. If I remember correctly secondary bonding was slightly better on an unprepared, uncontaminated surface.

If you used waxed resin, then you have to remove that and grinding and sanding is usually the method used, but be aware of grinding and sanding the waxy dust right back into the surface. In other words vacuum up, blow away or wash off the dust as it's generated. I would always lay the vacuum hose as close as possible to the action and have a box fan going, not blowing air on the work but sucking air away from the work and then blowing it somewhere else. I also would sometimes have a garden hose running and every few seconds run some water over everything, if not having a light spray constantly running over the work, as long as it could drain away. That kept it clean and eliminated the dust. Of course then you have to let it dry for a few days before wiping/washing with acetone and laminating. Acetone with polyester, if that's what you're using. I've heard of using styrene instead, to make the old surface more receptive, but I don't know if it's true.

When it comes to 'sanding', keep dust to a minimum. A sharp paint scraper can take off a lot of material without raising any dust. Large grits at a slow speed with lots of pressure work well. Especially when I was using company tools, I would bear down on a 7" grinder until I could almost count the rpms. Definite tool abuse, but better them than me. It's amazing how much some tools can take and still keep functioning.

When it comes to 'painting', if two coats are going on, the surface for the first coat can be pretty rough. That will leave bumps and lumps and solidified needles of fiberglass that are then very easy to sand off and the second coat will be smooth.