shorefun
Well-Known Member
This is my 'practice' hull. It had the major hit on the keel and the scrap to glass on the chine. On the topside the cleat was push down and the combing is broken loose.
This is my first ever fiberglass work. My goal was to put in a backer without putting a hole on the top just to see if I could do it. I will need to do something like this for the bow of my sons sunfish.
As you can see I tried the string pull method. Doing this on the chine suffers from the hull being a compound curve in all directions. So the problem is to limit the wrinkles that will form. You can see I used a manilla folder for the backing. It was stiff enough, but flexible to not kink much when pulled tight. I needed to cut the hole in the middle or the paper would kink from the compound curves. My hope/ goal was the glass would stay below the lines of the hull so I can layer on top without sanding the backing. I have not checked if I met this goal.
It was a sort of complex operation with all the strings. I used twigs so the string would not pull out. I pulled the strings tight and bent them over and taped them to the hull which did a decent job holding the tension in this case. It was difficult to wet out the layers of glass, but I expected this. I used roving on the furthest inside and 2 layers of mat next to the hull. I did it in the sun, temps are getting low, and it started hardening up on me.
The keel was a bit different. I just put 2 strings across the opening and had a piece of cardboard with butterfly wings I folded over. I did pre-coat the resin on the inside of the hull. I got some resin on the foam block inside and it melted some. More room to do work. Wet out the glass was hard to get into the hole. It was not pretty. The sun had gone behind the house and the temps were lower, I had a lot more time to work. I also now know about the color change as the resin cures. This one will need a bit of sanding to get it down low enough.
Temps are a bit low for me to do a lot work here in NJ. This is a side project with little rush. Both backers I am please with in that they are hard and seem well installed. The chine has a couple of bubbles in it. I expected that and I am not worried.
After what ever sanding needs to be done to level high spots I will move on to layering in glass. Start with mat then roving and continue until finish with 2 layers of mat. That should be pretty simple. I also need to thicken some resin and fill in some voids here and there. I have 2 more spots with some damage that just need a few layers of glass and then gel coat. Then on to the top side where I need to cut a larger hole in the deck (it has a port put in but it is small) to fix the cleat.
This is my first ever fiberglass work. My goal was to put in a backer without putting a hole on the top just to see if I could do it. I will need to do something like this for the bow of my sons sunfish.
As you can see I tried the string pull method. Doing this on the chine suffers from the hull being a compound curve in all directions. So the problem is to limit the wrinkles that will form. You can see I used a manilla folder for the backing. It was stiff enough, but flexible to not kink much when pulled tight. I needed to cut the hole in the middle or the paper would kink from the compound curves. My hope/ goal was the glass would stay below the lines of the hull so I can layer on top without sanding the backing. I have not checked if I met this goal.
It was a sort of complex operation with all the strings. I used twigs so the string would not pull out. I pulled the strings tight and bent them over and taped them to the hull which did a decent job holding the tension in this case. It was difficult to wet out the layers of glass, but I expected this. I used roving on the furthest inside and 2 layers of mat next to the hull. I did it in the sun, temps are getting low, and it started hardening up on me.
The keel was a bit different. I just put 2 strings across the opening and had a piece of cardboard with butterfly wings I folded over. I did pre-coat the resin on the inside of the hull. I got some resin on the foam block inside and it melted some. More room to do work. Wet out the glass was hard to get into the hole. It was not pretty. The sun had gone behind the house and the temps were lower, I had a lot more time to work. I also now know about the color change as the resin cures. This one will need a bit of sanding to get it down low enough.
Temps are a bit low for me to do a lot work here in NJ. This is a side project with little rush. Both backers I am please with in that they are hard and seem well installed. The chine has a couple of bubbles in it. I expected that and I am not worried.
After what ever sanding needs to be done to level high spots I will move on to layering in glass. Start with mat then roving and continue until finish with 2 layers of mat. That should be pretty simple. I also need to thicken some resin and fill in some voids here and there. I have 2 more spots with some damage that just need a few layers of glass and then gel coat. Then on to the top side where I need to cut a larger hole in the deck (it has a port put in but it is small) to fix the cleat.