alum / glass question

[MH Hawker]

I was wondering how good glass would bond to aluminum was thinking a coating of glass and mat may work on old pontoons I am sure its ben asked about but couldnt find a thred on it.

 

[Bondo]

Re: alum / glass question

Nope,.... Aluminum Hates fiberglass...

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: alum / glass question

I've had good luck with Marine-Tex bonding glass to aluminum (with proper prep). Of course it is an epoxy product, and pricey, so maybe not practical for big applications.

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: alum / glass question

What Bondo posted. What are you trying to accomplish/ repair?

 

[zopperman]

Re: alum / glass question

With proper prep it's possible to get epoxy to bond. It's a PITA and will give a poor bond and really isn't worth it, but it's possible... it will very likely fail soon after...

consider this though - JB weld is an epoxy, but I don't think it would saturate glass.

How bad are your toons?

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: alum / glass question

Prep for my Marine-Tex aluminum application was light sanding w/medium grit paper, followed by acetone wipe-down. Not much different than you would do when painting. Did just fine saturating glass weave and bonding the glass to the Al. It has held up well so far (5 months, although, not many hours on the water). In fact, I wanted to remove a small section of the applied glass and had to grind it off - no luck scraping/peeling.

I still think price would be the biggest drawback to a big application such as a couple of pontoons.

 

[fucawi]

Re: alum / glass question

you have not said if you want to use epoxy resin or polyester ...??? Poly ester is much much cheaper and what most boats are made of .... If you are totally enclosing them as in putting a tube around it then it does not have to stick....If just doing up to the water line and a bit above still should be ok ..the question is not will it stick but what will pull it off ..?? all the forces are upwards pushing it on.....if its a patch not a good idea...

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: alum / glass question

This is more for personal information. My first toon but I have owned boats for the past 30 years. My toons are fine, I run in fresh water. Was thinking more of those who run in salt and get pin holes and so on and I know most use the bottom paints.. having done a lot of metel fabrication in years past, I know when it gets to thin welding is a problem. I am working my way through a rebuild on a 1988 as time and money permits, but the toons are fine, and I have redecked with marine plywood lol and rewired and repowered and rebuilt the trailer and am having a custom cover made at the moment, and new furnature, live well and rod box over the winter.