Okay, that hand with the damaged bow who posted pics earlier, I should add a few tips... I was busy last night making that excellent lasagna dinner, LOL. When I talked about using the 'chopped glass' method, that is only for the deepest recesses of the crack I see in the bow. You'll reach a point when you start cutting small pieces of matt or cloth and layering them to help fill the void, i.e. that MIA chunk. I suppose it could be likened to "3-D printing"---only YOU will be doing the "printing" by stacking layer after trimmed layer of glass to fill that void. Of course, you will already have a base upon which to build: the first layers of matt or cloth allowed to cure atop the plastic-wrapped form. You will also be finished with the chopped glass method by this time, having filled that crack that kind of winds aft. Once you've "3-D printed" enough of that void or MIA chunk, you will resume with broader layers of matt or cloth to cover both the "reprinted" chunk and the surrounding faired-out areas of the bow. You still with me here? Sometimes I make the mistake of assuming that a hand has done glasswork before, I have to remind myself that this may not actually be the case.
Oh, yeah, on a separate note, that cracked rail you also mentioned, you can clean out any loose chunks of debris or rotten glass, then fill the crack(s) with catalyzed resin and clamp the rail in a few places. Well, at least two places, I don't know exactly how long the damaged area is... but that is a separate issue from the "3-D reprinting" of the MIA chunk in your bow, aye? If the damaged rail has large enough gaps in it once you've cleaned it up, use the chopped glass method to fill the gaps before clamping the rail. No need to overstuff it, since you'll be clamping it anyway. That should solve the problem, just remember to clean up the crack(s) in the damaged rail first, even if you only rough up the damaged areas a bit with an X-acto knife, sharp knife tip, awl, sharp nail, whatever... you want that fresh resin you pour into the crack(s) to adhere, and roughing up the internal "walls" of the crack(s) will help the resin bond better. Alright, hope that clarifies matters, this isn't rocket science so I know you can handle the task... prep work is half the battle, as always.
We have a cold front moving through our area, it is rather chilly outside and I'm enjoying a cup of hot cocoa... this time of year is great because I can start eating and drinking all those "seasonal foods" I missed during the long hot summer. For instance, last night's lasagna straight from the oven... I try not to use the oven in the kitchen during warmer months, as I have the A/C on in my home, I normally BBQ as much as possible when it's hot outside. Now that the evenings are cooler, I can use the oven no problem, it actually feels good to have that extra heat (since I'm not running the gas furnace yet, it's on standby, LOL). Cheap b@stard that I am, I "work the windows" in spring and fall so I don't have to pay for any heating or cooling. Done right, this program works great, even though I only have single-pane windows here in Cochise County, as opposed to the double-pane windows I had in the White Mountains. But back to the food: just this past week, I've enjoyed a beef roast with brown gravy and a little horseradish sauce on the side, and last night's lasagna, both hot from the oven... well, I use the Nu-Wave Infrared Oven for roasts, it does a great job, but the lasagna has to be cooked in the traditional manner, LOL.
Before I bail, here's a shot of the Stronghold under stormy skies, and a shot of two cats lounging on the view deck the other day when the weather was perfect:
That's actually somebody else's cat next to my black cat Crackhead, I think some wank abandoned "Fathead" (as I call him), so I've been feeding him and letting him hang out indoors & in the yard. You can't tell from this picture, but the fur to either side of his face makes his head appear fatter than usual, hence the moniker, LOL. He's not such a bad cat, he was pretty scruffy when I first started feeding him but he has filled out nicely for the coming winter, which was my intention, as it can get quite cold here. Well below freezing, anyway, and those cold temps can be hard on a feral or semi-feral cat... ol' Fathead is friendly enough, I can pet him no problem, and I even let him sleep on my bed when he wants to take a nap. He's considerably older than my cats, but that's okay, I don't practice 'cat ageism' here at the ol' hacienda. Fathead gets as much food as he can eat, and he's a damned fool for milk, but that's alright too... he looks way better than he did a couple months ago, he was looking scruffy then (like some homeless cat). Meh, what's one more kitteh? No worries...
Edit: Forgot to mention that when I repaired the bow of my Laser a long time ago, I actually built it up a bit beefier than it originally was, but this extra bit of buildup was invisible under the rollover joint of the bow, when viewed afterward from the beach or dock. Don't worry about recreating the perfectly-identical rollover joint in that MIA section, focus instead upon a solid repair with no air bubbles... if you're a purist, you can always file or grind a little glass back down afterward, though I left mine in place for added strength. Again, nobody could tell the bow was a bit thicker right up forward, and I wanted it as strong as possible for my island voyages, where sharp reefs and rocks can do a number on fiberglass, pronto. I might add that you can use thin strips of glass laid up in a curve to rebuild that rollover joint... even old school "fiberglass rope" will help recreate the joint, though technically it will no longer be a "rollover joint"---just glass that you've built up to create your new bow. Once you have enough glassworking experience, you'll pick up little tricks that help you...
