Air bubble in Tab fiberglass

[Matrex]

Quick one...

I tabbed my transom in. I guess I tried to cut the corner too tight - a couple of smallish (1 inch) air bubbles right at the floor/transom bend. My plan was to grind them out, fill with Peanut Butter and place a new layer of glass over the area...

Right track?

 

[oops!]

Re: Air bubble in Tab fiberglass

yes you can do that......however.....what kind of material are you using for tabbing?

is it 1708?.....if it is ....make the lines of the cloth run the legnth of the bend...not against it.....1708 doesnt like to og against the grain.

another thing is to make peanut butter and use it to take out the 45 deg corner and smoothe it ......

see tabbing the hull deck in the hull ext thread......

good luck....take pics

 

[sbklf]

Re: Air bubble in Tab fiberglass

If your gonna tab with 1708 with one of the layers of the glass cloth parallel to the joint, that layer of glass does nothing for the joint. What ever material you are using try this: Prep the area, cut the material to fit, apply a coat of resin and let it start to catalize and use it like adhesive to stick the material to hold it in place. You can tuck into fairly tight corners and it will hold it in place and help eliminate resin rich repairs. You can even do outside corners that are not too sharp. Then roll your resin on top and work it in to the material. You should fillet your inside corners. I repaired a boat that had the stringers tabbed in with CSM alone and failed. I retabbed them with 45X45 cloth (I used epoxy so the CSM was not necessary

 

[Matrex]

Re: Air bubble in Tab fiberglass

Thanks for the tips. I pretty much followed the same procedure - but didn't fillet the corners enough. I am using Epoxy and 10oz cloth. I have 3 overlapping layers at the tabs. The first bubbled a bit - not much 3 or 4 little air pockets. I ground them open, filled the gap and re-glassed.

I'll add 2 layers over the whole transom next, covering what i have.

 

[oops!]

Re: Air bubble in Tab fiberglass

Thanks for the tips. I pretty much followed the same procedure - but didn't fillet the corners enough. I am using Epoxy and 10oz cloth. I have 3 overlapping layers at the tabs. The first bubbled a bit - not much 3 or 4 little air pockets. I ground them open, filled the gap and re-glassed.

I'll add 2 layers over the whole transom next, covering what i have.

for any i boaters looking for info on glassing with out air.......the described method works with epoxy .....and not poly.....

 

[sbklf]

Re: Air bubble in Tab fiberglass

for any i boaters looking for info on glassing with out air.......the described method works with epoxy .....and not poly.....

???

 

[oops!]

Re: Air bubble in Tab fiberglass

apply a coat of resin and let it start to catalize and use it like adhesive to stick the material to hold it in place. Then roll your resin on top and work it in to the material.

this method will only work with epoxy.....it will not work with poly.

once the resin hits the glass ......the glass expands as the resin goes between the fibers of the cloth or matt....if the cloth is tacked down with a partially caytlized resin, it will create more air pockets.

i wrote this for any future people searching, looking for info