andyatos
Well-Known Member
Eventually got to the point where I wanted to sail so bad that I decided to finally put back the circular piece I had cut out of the deck for my mast step project. The first step was to create a glass and resin backing sheet.
I used 4 layers of six inch wide cloth as a start but did another, stiffer one with 6 layers that I ultimately ended up using. Took a couple of shelves in the garage that had super smooth surfaces, covered them with Syran Wrap, layed up the layers with West Systems resin on one shelf, put the other shelf on top then loaded the top shelf with bricks... my vacuum bag effect. Here's how the sheet looked when cured.
The hole in my deck was 5.5 inches in diameter. So I trimmed the above backing sheet to 6 inches wide by 9.5 inches long. I then made a 5.5 inch diameter circle on the backing sheet so I could line it up perfectly centered with the hole when I got it inside the boat.
To hold the backing sheet in place once I got it inside the boat, I drilled 4 holes at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, put in some small screws then tied some stout, non stretch line to the screws. I put the screws right on the edge of the circle so that when I applied upward force to the backing sheet when resin-ing it in place, it wouldn't bow into a curve. Here's what the piece looked like before I applied resin and put it in the boat.
Now for the next two questions. First, how to get this flat piece that was 6 inches wide through a hole that was only 5.5 inches in diameter? And next, how to keep the resin from running while fussing with trying to get the sheet in through the hole?
When I finished trimming the sheet that was 4 layers thick, I realized I should probably make another one with Voodoo's suggested 6 layers thick instead because my 4 layer thick one may have been a little too flexible. So I made another one that was 6 layers thick. But this one turned out to be a real pain to bend enough to get through the hole. So if I was to do this process again, I think 5 layers thick would have been perfect. Here's how I ended up bending the sheet in the end. This simple idea worked great. Your basic strap with a cam buckle. Allows you to have both hands free to bend the sheet the little bit more it needs to fit through the hole.
Next, how to keep the resin from running to the inside of the 5.5 inch circle I traced. I ended up using some West Systems 404 filler. Not too much, just enough to keep the resin from running.
I then thought the process through and said to myself, "How am I going to hold this thing in place when I do my fine tuning and adding a bit more resin if I need to?" I had some short, small diameter bungies laying around so I anchored one end of the bungees with heavy blocks and hooked the other ends to the loops that were already on my red lines. This would allow the bungee tension to just hold the backing sheet in place... yet allow me to push it down a bit for adding a bit more resin and for positioning it just right. This idea worked out very nicely. Here's a photo of the bungee set up.
With this set up ready, I put the strap on the backing sheet, cranked it so it was well bent, applied the 404 thickened resin to the outside of the circle I had traced, then stuffed it through the hole. Hooked up the 4 bungees, applied some bungee tension and then looked to see where I might not have enough resin right at the edges of the circle I had drawn. Where it wasn't quite oozing to the edge of the circle, I just pushed the backing sheet down, applied a bit more resin with a brush then let the bungees tension the sheet again up against the underside of the deck. Once I got the amount of resin just right, I moved on to the final step.
Previously, I had thrown together a couple of pieces of scrap wood so that each of the 4 red lines attached to the screws could be pulled straight up, then towards the center. I then used a couple of pieces of spent brushes, wrapped 2 opposing lines around one then twisted the lines until there was lots of tension pulling up on the backing sheet. Did the same with the other two lines and that was it. The sheet was now being pulled up flush to the underside of the deck with quite a lot of force. Here's a photo.
Let it cure till the next morning then pulled the jig off. Here's the backing sheet in place. You can see the small holes left over from the screws.
I'll do another separate photo essay of putting the piece I cut out of the deck back in and how I matched the gel coat color and non skid gel coat deck pattern.
Cheers,
- Andy
I used 4 layers of six inch wide cloth as a start but did another, stiffer one with 6 layers that I ultimately ended up using. Took a couple of shelves in the garage that had super smooth surfaces, covered them with Syran Wrap, layed up the layers with West Systems resin on one shelf, put the other shelf on top then loaded the top shelf with bricks... my vacuum bag effect. Here's how the sheet looked when cured.
The hole in my deck was 5.5 inches in diameter. So I trimmed the above backing sheet to 6 inches wide by 9.5 inches long. I then made a 5.5 inch diameter circle on the backing sheet so I could line it up perfectly centered with the hole when I got it inside the boat.
To hold the backing sheet in place once I got it inside the boat, I drilled 4 holes at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, put in some small screws then tied some stout, non stretch line to the screws. I put the screws right on the edge of the circle so that when I applied upward force to the backing sheet when resin-ing it in place, it wouldn't bow into a curve. Here's what the piece looked like before I applied resin and put it in the boat.
Now for the next two questions. First, how to get this flat piece that was 6 inches wide through a hole that was only 5.5 inches in diameter? And next, how to keep the resin from running while fussing with trying to get the sheet in through the hole?
When I finished trimming the sheet that was 4 layers thick, I realized I should probably make another one with Voodoo's suggested 6 layers thick instead because my 4 layer thick one may have been a little too flexible. So I made another one that was 6 layers thick. But this one turned out to be a real pain to bend enough to get through the hole. So if I was to do this process again, I think 5 layers thick would have been perfect. Here's how I ended up bending the sheet in the end. This simple idea worked great. Your basic strap with a cam buckle. Allows you to have both hands free to bend the sheet the little bit more it needs to fit through the hole.
Next, how to keep the resin from running to the inside of the 5.5 inch circle I traced. I ended up using some West Systems 404 filler. Not too much, just enough to keep the resin from running.
I then thought the process through and said to myself, "How am I going to hold this thing in place when I do my fine tuning and adding a bit more resin if I need to?" I had some short, small diameter bungies laying around so I anchored one end of the bungees with heavy blocks and hooked the other ends to the loops that were already on my red lines. This would allow the bungee tension to just hold the backing sheet in place... yet allow me to push it down a bit for adding a bit more resin and for positioning it just right. This idea worked out very nicely. Here's a photo of the bungee set up.
With this set up ready, I put the strap on the backing sheet, cranked it so it was well bent, applied the 404 thickened resin to the outside of the circle I had traced, then stuffed it through the hole. Hooked up the 4 bungees, applied some bungee tension and then looked to see where I might not have enough resin right at the edges of the circle I had drawn. Where it wasn't quite oozing to the edge of the circle, I just pushed the backing sheet down, applied a bit more resin with a brush then let the bungees tension the sheet again up against the underside of the deck. Once I got the amount of resin just right, I moved on to the final step.
Previously, I had thrown together a couple of pieces of scrap wood so that each of the 4 red lines attached to the screws could be pulled straight up, then towards the center. I then used a couple of pieces of spent brushes, wrapped 2 opposing lines around one then twisted the lines until there was lots of tension pulling up on the backing sheet. Did the same with the other two lines and that was it. The sheet was now being pulled up flush to the underside of the deck with quite a lot of force. Here's a photo.
Let it cure till the next morning then pulled the jig off. Here's the backing sheet in place. You can see the small holes left over from the screws.
I'll do another separate photo essay of putting the piece I cut out of the deck back in and how I matched the gel coat color and non skid gel coat deck pattern.
Cheers,
- Andy
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