Aaronhoy,

Yes. Now you`re talking.

Remember to clean first and get rid of loose debris. Don`t be afraid to re-apply the thin coat if you are not confident with the first. Fill voids to even out the surface (within reason) with a filler/resin mix before laying on your weave - otherwise air pockets will form and osmosis and more leakage may occur down the road. Avoid trying to "plaster" with the filler - just do the voids. Try hard to do it all in one day so as not to allow a full cure in the last layer (which ever it may be) before applying the next.

Do this, and you will succeed...especially if you use a quality epoxy.

Good Luck

Dave

i hear much talk of these holes in the pylons to equalize pressure... yet after a pretty thorough inspection of my boat, i have no idea where they are... where in the heck are those things?

ok, great.
so when people talk about filler can I just mix chopped fiber stands with epoxy or is there a seperate material I can buy that is acutally labeled as filler? Also, all the times i've dealt with epoxy before (in non-marine situations) it has been in 2 parts. However I haven't noticed anyone talk about this in the forum. Will the epoxy I find at west marine be 2 parts or is it different?

Newbie,

Very good question. The pylons themselves are hollow and are similar to your mast or boom. Access to "the hole" and foam plug can only be achieved AFTER removing any of the four corner castings... Then you will see it plain as day.



Aaronhoy,

Epoxy always comes in two parts. However, it is not always mixed in a 50/50 proportion (read the label). Real care should always be taken to mix resins and hardeners as accurate as possible. This is quite easy to do with volumes of more than a few ounces. But, with small amounts it can be tricky. I use a small electronic postal scale which is accurate to a single gram. This solves the problem nicely. For you, it is better to stick with volumes large enough to accurately read using whatever (disposable) measuring device you happen to be using. Always pour the thicker of the two parts first as it is much easier to pour the thinner of the two parts last for an accurate measure.

As for the filler - chopped glass, microballoons, fumed silica...even baby powder in a pinch etc. These are purchased separately and usually fairly inexpensive as well. The resin supplier should have these on hand. Ask for them by their individual name as opposed to just asking for "filler".

I wouldn`t recommend chopping up fiberglass into small fine strands. Otherwise you`ll be scratching your butt off for days, and 20 years from now you`ll be writing all your posts from your hospital bed - provided you can reach your keyboard past your ventilator hose!


Dave

Low tech is the way Before going for the labour intensive methods..I was just lucky that I had three minor leaks in easy areas to work on. I'm sure my day will come when I have to check up your posts Dave for a big job.

ok so today I started on the fiberglass. On the first layer of one of the hulls the resin cured before I was done and there are some placed where it is sticking out on the edge and a few air pockets, so I decided to quit with that one for the day and let it cure and then sand it back into shape before I apply more glass. The other hull went well though. I guess it is important to do small strips at a time because if the resin gets tacky in the middle of doing a strip it will never stay down after that. Any suggestions as to how to remove the unstuck material?

Dremel and heavy-duty cutting wheels and patience. (Be sure to get heavy duty because the regular ones break too often. I dunno why they even sell regular ones; they're worthless.)

oh yeah, I used a dremmel to cut metal for the frame of a small robot once and I went through like 10 disks. One time a shard of disk nailed me square in the safety glasses. Anyway I went back down there after the supposed 2 hours cure time and it was still tacky in some places. I decided to try to sand it anyway to see what happened (with a power sander) and it sanded ok and then the stuff was hardened by the time I was half way done. I took off the hanging edges and power sanded through the air bubbles and then hand sanded them long ways to make it smooth. Hopefully I will be able to finish the rest all in one day sometime this week now that i've got the hang of working with this stuff.
thanks all for your help

Aaronhoy,

For removal of cured glass, I find 80 grit paper and an orbital sander works best. Wait until the resin is fully cured though (at least overnight).

Also, I think you may be confusing "fully cured". Resins fully cure (for general purposes) in about 12 to 24 hours. They become tacky in about an hour or less (depending on what you`re using). It is quite alright (in fact desirable) to let the last layer get tacky before applying the next. This is not the same as fully cured. Also, do not use resin that is starting to gell in the mixing cup - mix fresh stuff.

Dave

yeah that's what i was trying to do was let it get tacky and then apply the next, but some of it got tacky while i was in the middle of a strip, making like an edge of it that kinda had resin on it but wasn't soaked all the way and wasn't stuck down against the side when it got too tacky to manipulate. I knew it wasn't fully cured when I came back to sand it (even though the directions claimed it should be) because I could feel that it was still sticky, but it was still hard enough to sand so I went ahead and got rid of some the bubbles and that sticking up edge. I used a sanding disk on an electric drill, which is just as good as an orbital sander.