Glassing my "firewall"

[stephentyler20]

Hi all,

One of the things I'm absolutely sure I'll be doing for my boat (or at least attempting) is to fiberglass/finish the firewall in my I/O cuddy... I call it the firewall, not sure if that's the correct term - it's the plywood board that goes across the boat in the aft, but forward of the transom, just over the engine. It's about 7' wide, and cut out to fit the engine and gunwales.

Currently (stock) it's carpeted, but I changed the carpet last year on the boat, but didn't have the time/patience to extract the firewall to carpet that too. So, I simply left it. Now, I've already taken it out of the boat, and I figure rather than carpet it, I should just fiberglass it and paint it white to make it look legit, be more waterproof, etc.

So here's my plan, which I'm hoping someone with experience can verify...

1. Remove the old carpet.

2. Soak the plywood in poly resin.

3. Lay up with 2-3 layers of 1.5 or 2 oz CSM (which?).

4. Add surface veil cloth on top to make a smooth surface.

5. After all cured, sand smooth.

6. Add one thin layer of gel coat, allow to dry, and then sand again.

7. Add a thicker layer of gel coat. Wet sand, compound, polish, etc. to shine.

Sound good? I'm not too worried about the strength aspect here, as the plywood has done its job well over the years. Rather, I just want a waterproof, good looking finish that ISN'T carpet.

By the way, this is part of my grander scheme to glass/finish several similar components of my cockpit inSTEAD of doing the floor, which will remain carpet as it's just too much time/money/work to do in such an old boat (on my schedule!).

 

[oops!]

Re: Glassing my "firewall"

hi stephen.....

kinda sounds like a good plan....however.

you dont soak the wood in resin....you paint it on.....wait till it gets really tacky....the re resin it and add the glass....

by doing it that way....you are waterproofing the wood (as best as fiberglass can do).

i would also re carpet it after.....the reason for the carpet is....it cuts down the noise from the motor substancially.

also the gell coat...is also applied simelar to paint.....but you will need to use a finishing layer of fiberglass...(called a veil) or sanding will take you forever....the veil will cut that time in half....see the hull extension thread "gellcoating the deck".......its the same process.

any mor questions.....you know where to ask

cheers
oops

 

[stephentyler20]

Re: Glassing my "firewall"

i would also re carpet it after.....the reason for the carpet is....it cuts down the noise from the motor substancially.

Thanks for the tips, however the point of this project is NOT to have a carpeted finish! You really think this will make a difference with engine noise? What if I put sound proofing on the inside or something?

I didn't consider that, but frankly if I have to recarpet this anyway, I'm going to skip the whole fiberglass thing - it's just not worth the time/effort/money to do go through that if there's no benefit to me. The waterproofing would just have been for good measure - it really doesn't get that much water exposure. My main concern was aesthetics.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Glassing my "firewall"

It would probably bang like a drum.

 

[stephentyler20]

Re: Glassing my "firewall"

Argh! Noooo! Sounds like I should just put some new carpet on it and leave it alone otherwise. Frankly, the reduced workload doesn't exactly bother me!