Fiberglass work with the boat in the water?

[Ironworker]

I'm brand new to working with fiberglass, cherry intact. But I've watched some youtube videos and I'm prepared to screw up along with having to sand a lot of stuff.

My question is can I do some work with the boat in the water on the deck and inside of the gunnels? I can set up a temp tent over the area which I'm working to keep the rain off but I don't know how much humidity will effect the glass layup?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Bruce]

Rick,
heat and humidity will affect cure time especially if you use a fast hardner if your using epoxy. If using polyester high heat and humidity use a few drops less mekp. But we in Florida don't have a problem and its 100% humidity about 364 days a year.

Make sure your tarp doesn't seal to well if your using polyester resin for the smell, allow plenty of ventilation.

[Ironworker]

Bruce,

I appreciate the info. I don't know what I don't know so I'll make a run at it and hope for the best. Originally, I wanted to get the minimum done to the boat and just get it to N. Palm Beach to finish is up but I decided for a variety or reasons to get the Glendinning engine controls and electronics installed prior to making the trip from SC to FL. I've stripped out all the old instrumentation wiring harnesses and just going with the bare minimum in instrumentation to make the trip.

The deck is not self bailing and I'd like to get that situation corrected which is going to take some fiberglass work.

[ktm_2000]

Rick,

for the first time, my recommendation is to glass something simple which you don't care about. A scrap piece of board and a few pieces of glass and practice.

- The key to me is to have everything ready ahead of time, prep the area to be glassed, cover up anything you don't want resin on.

- Have the glass cut to size, arrange near the work area in order it will go down, make relief cuts to allow to the glass to fold into corners

- Get your mixing cup, stirring stick, gloves, chip brush, squeegie, rags and solvent to cleanup resin. 2nd cup with solvent to clean up tools

-measure out your resin and catalyst

-essentially be prepared - once you mix the 2 parts of the resin, you have 15 or so min to work. The process is exothermic and the process can snowball, that means the longer you leave the resin in a large mass, the shorter the pot time will be. I try to get resin spread out quick to avoid it kicking too fast and give me longer working times.

- only mix up enough resin which you can effectively use in 15 or so min - nothing is worse than trying to rush to get resin spread out and having it kick on you and turn into a hot mess.

- I try to use a brush or roller to spread out the resin over the fiberglass - it takes 2-3 min after putting some resin on the glass for it to wet out.

- glass will go translucent when wet out, air will get trapped in the fabric and will be visible and will need to be removed to make a strong laminate. I use a few different techniques to get the air out. 1. dab with chip brush repeatedly until the air bubble is broken up and leaves 2. Use a squeegie to press down and force the air bubble and then push it out from under the glass and away from the laminate 3. use a fiberglass bubble roller to do the same thing as the squeegie - this tool is required for working with mat.

I typically spend almost as much time bubble busting as I do actually wetting out glass.

- lastly cleanup - it is easier to wipe up a few spots of resin with solvents than it is to let it cure out and sand it later.

- bubble rollers need to be taken apart and cleaned inside too, so you need to reserve enough of the pot life time to get it clean before the resin is set.

it really is not that hard, prepare, prepare, prepare

[Ironworker]

I appreciate the advice. I'm new to fiberglass, but have done quite a bit of research. So much in fact that I'm beginning to think my GF may have a crush on Andy at Boatworks Today.

[Carl]

Rick,

Biggest thing to remember its all just a plastic boat. Screw it up, cut and grind it out and do again. That said keep your trials above the waterline and stay away from heavy structural till you get the knack. Its not rocket science, you'll learn quickly what to and what not to do, what works and what does not.
If your anything like me...I'm sorry, your going to be making a big mess. Its the dumb things like kneeling in a tray of resin that will get you shaking your head. On a good note it was a pair of work pants, washed hundreds of times and that knee is still holding up well, no stress cracks, no blisters. West System may be overpriced, but stands up well and super easy to mix in the correct ratios with their pump of this to a pump of that. That is unless your talking and forget the count.

Kidding aside, prep is all important, clean and prep your materials, know what your going to do before you start pouring and mixing.

[Ironworker]

I thought I'd add to this thread with my first experience with fiberglass. First I did not tackle the Carolina Reaper but thought I'd practice on a friend's boat first. His boat had a little trailer accident by departing a trailer on a busy highway. Actually very little damage but it was a good practice boat.

First lesson learned is get more protective gear. I did a considerable amount of work on my back on the bottom of the boat and got fiberglass dust everywhere. I had a set of goggles and a respirator but everywhere around the edges of the goggles and respirator the dust impregnated my skin. I ordered a full face respirator to minimize contact.

Second lesson learned was to wear a protective suit when sanding fiberglass over you head. I wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt and its amazing the places fiberglass dust can get to.

Third lesson learned was to use a vacuum to collect the dust from the sander. I chose to use a couple of fans to blow the dust away. Actually more like blow the dust in places under my clothes wear fiberglass is never supposed to be!

Fourth lesson learned is to have a good helper who can cut and wet out glass and hand it to you. Its just not enough time working with glass and gelcoat when having to get up and out from a trailer to do it yourself.

Fifth lesson learned is its not as hard as I feared. It's very time consuming with successive steps but the end product is looking pretty good. A couple of more days on my friends boat and I'm going to tackle the projects on the Reaper. But I'm going to wait until my new protective gear comes in.

Sixth lesson, the itch last at least 3 days and counting........

The first job will be to glass in the cleats in the stern of the boat. Time to find that thread.