question aboult putting down fiberglass cloth

[brad1963]

i got a 86 bayliner capri 16ft open bow.i removed all the rotton floor and cut all the plywood for the new floor and i coated the floor with epoxy resin twice and screwed it all down,everything looks great.my question is i have a roll of fiberglass cloth that i want to use on top of my floor,do i lay the fiberglass down and cover it with epoxy or do i coat the floor first and then lay down the fiberglass and then coat that? thanks

 

[Bco128]

Re: question aboult putting down fiberglass cloth

the last one.spread a good coating of resin over the floor and lay the cloth then coat again.smooth out after it is cured by sanding with a light sandpaper.if you spread carefully it will be pretty smooth anyway. good luck.

 

[neumanns]

Re: question aboult putting down fiberglass cloth

yea...what he says.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: question aboult putting down fiberglass cloth

Make sure you sand the surface with 60 grit sandpaper since you have already applied resin. Once sanded, wipe down really well with acetone. This removes the dust, but mainly kind of softens the resin just a bit, it will bond with the new resin much better. Apply resin, roll the material out, and wet it out again. You do not want to have puddles, you just want the material to be wetted out. I am hoping you have rollers meant for wetting out and forcing air out of the glass. Make sure your material goes up the sides and transom at least 6 inches for strength. Good luck.

 

[bubbakat]

Re: question aboult putting down fiberglass cloth

brad get you a small squeegee takes a lot of work out of it

 

[crab bait]

Re: question aboult putting down fiberglass cloth

not all fiberglass cloth is for epoxy.. only e-grade is an you can't tell by eye.. <br />sand litey as per JASON..<br /><br />i've glassed 2 boats..i know what i'm talkin' about...<br /><br />lay the cloth down first... dry... mix up epoxy.. about a quart... but have more handy an ready if needed... matter-o-fact,, have everything handy.. cause time is paramount... once the 'poxy kicks-off,, fagettaboutit..!!<br /><br />pour 'poxy in a paint roller tray.. <br /><br />use a thin (1/8") foam roller.. an start rollin'...<br /><br />it's easy to do.. you'll know it's rite when the white cloth becomes transluent.. <br /><br />don't worry about small air pockets ,,just do/roll out the big<br />ones.. <br /><br />GET THE 'POXY ON THE CLOTH QUICKLY....AN SPREADED OUT QUICKLY..<br /><br />come back for the small ones... then take a squeege an go over everthing... you'll hear the air snap/crackin'/poppin' out..<br /><br />let cure... it'll be like canvas... which on a floor ,, mite be desirable..( no skid )...<br /><br />or lite sand an apply more coats to hide the weave...

 

[BillP]

Re: question aboult putting down fiberglass cloth

1. Sand <br /><br />2. Wipe down with acetone to CLEAN the surface. Contrary to an earlier posting, acetone does NOT soften epoxy or polyester resin...not even a little. Contact any resin manufacture for confirmation. <br /><br />3. Fit the cloth FIRST, then wet out and squeege the resin around evenly. Then roll the air bubbles out with a small 4" plastic roller made for glassing (you can use others but this works fine for home projects). Trying to move and fit large cloth areas down on a wet surface can be very tedious. Some may do it that way but they likely will find out "why not" the hard way. Regardless, wetting out will not be a problem doing the cloth first.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: question aboult putting down fiberglass cloth

I should add that when I do large areas, I roll the material out in sectioned strips, easier to work with than trying to do large areas.<br /><br />Actually, acetone does soften cured poly. I found that out after I so brilliantly forgot to clean my rollers after glassing and they were a solid cured mess. Left them in acetone overnite and the poly was soft enough to brush off. Now how much a thin whiping of acetone on a surface would soften is debatable, but it definatly cleans it well. The softening thing was something I was told by veteran builders and I doubted its truthfullness until my joyous roller incident.

 

[BillP]

Re: question aboult putting down fiberglass cloth

Rolling out first or last is a personal choice and depends on the job. For flat decks I use the biggest piece of glass I can fit and lay it down on the dry surface...then wet it out. On vertical surfaces I only wet it first to tack the cloth down. It is easier to work wrinkles out of dry cloth vs working them out when the cloth is laid on wet resin. The lighter the cloth the worse it is. <br /><br />About acetone softening polyester...maybe the "experts" are confusing styrene with acetone. Styrene is the right material to soften poly and the correct material to wipe a poly surface with.<br /><br />Wiping down poly resin with acetone for a few minutes will not soften the poly even a little bit. It is apples and oranges to compare soaking overnight with a 2 minute wipe down for softening. Contact your resin or acetone mfg to confirm. Brad stated he is using epoxy and it won't get soft with acetone either. <br /><br />Brad...Do yourself a big favor, contact any of the resin/acetone manufacturers to get the straight scoop on materials and methods.