A nice view from the top... getting ready to finish fiberglassing the exterior, we did 3 layers total, 1708, mat, cloth (finish). All the cabin except the inside of the roof ended up with the same layup, 1708 + mat + cloth. Well the forward "braces" (two thin pieces of wood between the three windows) had 3 layers of biaxial, and ended up being super strong.
The roof was done in three sections, first section is finished with mat and then cloth
Second section finished and first section covered with cabosil. Cabosil is a powder that is used to make thickned resin, like a paste, it's the filler used in boat-fiberglassing. This cabosil layer ended up being kind of thick, we would pay the price latter when sanding all of this smooth. The cabosil mixture is very hard, so sanding it take a lot of time. Gealcoat is softer. Another way of doing this would be to add glass-bubbles and cabosil, the paste is not as hard and easy to sand. I used about 20% bubbles here, not much, and 80% cabosil.
Here is another angle of the second section finished, For those non-believers out there... I like the view of the ocean from up-top....
You can see how the [mat + cloth] comes together really nice to provide a very smooth surface on which we put some of that cabosil paste later on.
Another view of the side and fore PH, heavy coat of cabosil up top.
A view of the aft Pilot House with cabosil. It is better to put the cabosil paste once the fiberglass starts to cure but is not fully cured, this way you get a better chemical bond between fiberglass and cabosil. Whenever possible we did this.
Luan is cheap 3/16" thick plywood used to cover the sides of those cheap hollow doors... anyway, Luan was used to make a template that was later used to cut two 3/4" marine plywood 4x8 sheets used as core for the transom.
Notice how the engine compartment has disapeared, gone completly, we ended up removing all of this because we found soft spots on the floor, some root areas, and poor construction/repair. I wanted a very firm area back here as this is the most important part of the boat, where all the stress from the weight of the engine / bait tank will be.
Fitting the template and making final adjustments....
First plywood goes in, cleaned the area first with acetone so the resin will adhere better, put a thick layer of cabosil and screw the plywood from the outside. The screws help pull the plywood to the outer skin (fiberglass) that was still left from the original structure.
A view from the outside
Screws were removed, a layer of mat was placed between the 3/4" marine plywood sheets and a very generous layer of cabosil to fill the gaps. After this 2nd plywood was set, again we used screws to pull the plywood shut against the previous plywood.
The screws were removed again and the holes left by the screws were all drilled bigger (1/4), these were filled with cabosil from the inside, these tape pieces helped keep the cabosil in the holes, cabosil was inserted into each hole with a syringe.
A look at that second plywood in place, now with the screws out, but they haven't been filled with cabosil yet.
Getting the materials ready, just cutting the fiberglass took a couple of hours, all of this prep was done a day before this was scheduled to begin because I knew this was going to be a long day of fiberglassing.
First layer of 1708 goes in... George and myself worked in-sync to finish this one up, I used the roller, and he used the brush to do the details, on every layer, we started at the same time and ended at the same time, I prepared the resin in 32oz batches. We had to cover the working area from the sun, I explained this a bit early on a reply.
There is George finishing that side on the second layer of 1708
Showing a little detail
A layer of 24oz woven roving going in after a mat
Another layer of 1708, notice how the sides, all around, get longer with each layer, each layer is "longer" the previous one, this is the way to do it.
Final layer going in... another 1708. A total of 8 layers were used 6-1708's, one 1.5oz mat, one 24oz woven roving, one pail of resin.
This is how it looked when we finished laying up the 8 layers, after 7.5 hours, non-stop. 1/2 % MEKP was used, on the hardner side, so that the thick layup would not "over-cure" or it would be toast. Also the lenght of time that it took us also helped this last issue.
This is how it looks the following day all cured (dried up)
I wanted to be able to walk from the cockpit to the bow going thru the sides of the cabin. I needed more than 2.5" to support a persons feet while doing this. So away with the gelcoat so the new fiberglass will adhere to the old fiberglass.
I wouldn't call these molds, they are more like fixtures to help form the extensions, which I call gunners, don't ask why just go with it. When building something for a boat you want to keep the weight to the minimum and the strenght to the max. To comply with this, I made the cores of two-part foam, and covered them with fiberglass. Pix shows what I mean.
Tape helps keep the two-part foam mixture inside the chamber
Foam goes in.... Foam expands
Remove the wood supports and cut away the excess foam
Work the foam to make the radius, sanded down with 80grit by hand being careful not to over-do-it
Two layers of 1708 finish this stage.
Enjoy...
Ebbie would go...
Linear Mode
