What did my wife get me into?

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

How can I tell that I've gone far enough to get through the waxed gel coat?

I have a belt sander from work - but I'm reading that I may need an angle grinder with a flapper? Will a belt sander get me where I need to go?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

I would NOT use a belt sander. A random orbit sander would work with 40 grit or disk grinder with a rubber backup and sanding disks 34 or 40 grit. Just sand the gel so it's NOT Shiny. And Make SURE to wipe it ALL down with acetone to ensure it will adhere.

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

No belt sander to get down to wood? I'm wanting to use it for the patch, not necessarily for the gel coat. So I'm just trying to get down to fresh wood to glass the new patch in.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

In my experience, It is not the right tool not saying you CAN'T use it, just saying I would not and I think the RO would be a better option.

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Ok - I have a RO (5" hitachi from work as well). I'll grab some 40 grit for it. I was trying 80 grit thinking it would be good enough, but it didn't seem to work too well.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

I think you'll find the 40 grit will make a BIG difference in the performance. I recently used 40 grit GATOR discs to hollow out the seat section of a High Chair I'm making for my Grandson and it is Solid White Oak. It took about 10 mins to knock out about 3/8" deep in the seat section using my Hitachi RO

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Wow!

I've been away from here for a while. Been pretty busy with work, and haven't even gotten a chance to work on the boat. My wife is pushing me to get this done, so I'm hoping to knock it out by mid June or so.

Anyways, the storms/rain around here have really put a damper on my repairs. I'm hoping that once these next two days worth of storms will leave me with some time afterwards to get some real progress done.

I moved the boat to the back yard two nights ago, and we had about 4" of rain from then until last night. Apparently the boat cover from the PO was worthless, as the boat was/is soaked. I left it open all day today, but we are getting forecast for some big storms again tonight, so I borrowed a tarp from work to put on top of the cover.

How much damage did I potentially do to the wood that is exposed on the floor? It seemed to dry out pretty well through today, and I'm going to keep the top off as much as I can to let it dry. I don't want it to rot even more, though, so how long should I let it dry out before I start repairing the floor?

Oh, and I just bought a new prop, bimini, and cover from iBoats - love the quick service! Already got the prop, and the bimini and cover should be here in a week or so.

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Started the sanding this morning. Hoping to have it finished up today and then I can start making flanges and see how badly I suck at fiberglassing....

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Sanding is finished! Headed out in a few to measure out the flanges. Then I'll cut them and glass them. Then I'll screw them in (maybe tomorrow) if I have enough time to go get some SS screws before all the stores close for Memorial Day tomorrow.

How long should I let the glassed wood set to cure? Temp is 87? today. I'm thinking it'll set fast, but I've never done fiberglass before, so I am totally winging it.

Any help would be awesome!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

pics please

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

The wood seems pretty dry now. I have the flanges cut, going to glass them tonight or tomorrow hopefully, depending on work.

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Ok - worked (real job) most of the weekend, so I'm much farther from my goal than I wanted to be.

I got the flanges cut, and then coated the smallest one in resin. I let it set for about an hour to set up and then went back and tried to fiberglass it. Not sure how well that turned out. What are some good tips to get the fiberglass to wrap the edges? As I was trying to smooth out the edges to wrap (just partially - not all the way to cover the bottom) it kept bubbling up on me. As this was a flange, I'm not too concerned about how it looks, but I would like it to be water proof. I can redo it if I need to, it is a pretty small piece.

Anyhow, I'll get some pics of how it turned out in the morning or tomorrow night. I went ahead and coated the other two flanges since I had leftover resin. Will those be okay left overnight? I didn't want to waste it, so it made since at the time to do the initial coat for the flanges.

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

How'd I do?

Best way to get the glass off the bottom?

Or do I start over?

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

So I cut and sanded the bottom of the first piece, and then cleaned with acetone. Then I laid down the second side.

I still am not sure what the best method is for the edges. I did a second piece of fiberglass and cut to the exact size, as the fiberglass seems to have some stretch as I'm working the resin into it. I precoated the edges of the plywood twice, thinking it may be sucking all the resin from the glass, not allowing it to lay well. It still popped up and didn't work the best. I've got one more piece to do, and then I'll be onto the biggest piece of plywood that I'll need to do a pretty decent job on.

Thoughts? Or do I just flat suck at fiberglassing?

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Another flange glassed. Still gettting some bubbling, but I think it is a little better. Glassing is definitely an art - and I am no artist!

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

well - got all the glassing done.

Also got the flanges installed. I ended up pulling one of them out, as it just didn't seem to work well.

So here is where it sits:

I'm waiting on my wife to get back with a shopvac so I can clean up around everything as I just sanded some more on the existing fiberglass to open it up some more on the side.

Then I'm hoping to get it cleaned up with some acetone and then make a little peanut butter mix to fill in around the patch. Any recommendations on a good PB mixture? About how much do you think I'll need?

Another question is what is the best way to connect the plywood to the side of the boat? There is a good gap there. I'm thinking just fill it with PB to give the glass something to layup to.

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Well, I feel like I accomplished quite a bit today. Only had a few hours after work to "work", but I made some good headway.

I borrowed a friend's shopvac, as Walmart was apparently out of them. Once I got done watching the Mavs beat the Heat, I went out and got everything vacuumed up (prematurely of course).

Then today I decided I had sanded too deep on most of the cutout, so I sanded farther out to just the fiberglass. Then I shopvac'ed all of that up and then cleaned everything up with acetone.

Then I made some PB. I now understand why nobody has a firm mixture for this stuff. It is definitely a "feel your way through it" process. Once I got it mixed up and felt like I had a good mix, I started filling in the crack around the flanges and the patch. It took quite a bit to finish it all, but that is because I (stupidly) made the piece much smaller than it needed to be. If I had known how much PB it took to fill it, I would have cut it a lot closer to the actual size.

Anyways, it is all done and setting up. The plan is to sand it down tomorrow and then lay down the first layer of CSM. It should be an adventure.

It was about 9PM when I finished, and I actually cracked open a beer to enjoy the accomplishments of the day. Today is the first day I've actually felt like I made progress. Before it has all seemed so slow and monotonous. I think it is days like this that really give me pride in ownership. I'll be glad to have her in the water soon - hopefully by Father's Day!

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

PB mix:

Progress:

I'll try to get a finished product pic in the morning. It got dark on me before I could get the wife to get a pic. She got a little ticked at me for making her take pics every time I finished 12" of it.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Hey there flamron I'd say you've come a LOOOOONNNGGGG way! Looking REAL Good!!!!!

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Thanks man. It is fellas like you that make guys like me look good.

Couldn't have done it without you ad everyone else.

I think I'm going to throw an iboats.com logo on the back when I name her - there is no way I could have done this without you guys.