Fiberglassing 2

[Marshall]

hi,

I have finished fiberglassing the hull and sides, painted them and after letting the paint set, turned her over to do the deck and cabin.

My question is : Do I need to put the glass cloth down on the topside ?

The RAKA epoxy was awesome on the bottom (4 coats). My brother-in-law said the cloth was mainly for strength. The epoxy seemed to toughen up everything. I am not comfortable with the seams that need to be matched up on the topside, however I know I can sand them down.\

Any thoughts ?

[Arnie Eaton]

I really think glassing of the cabin top, sides and deck would be in order. This will prevent checking of the plywood. Epoxy by itself will not prevent checking. In my experience glass is the only thing which will prevent it from happening. But it's your boat.

[Dave R1]

Marshall, what kind of plywood did you use for the deck, cabin sides, cabin bulkhead and cabin roof?

I used lauan plywood for the deck and cabin roof. It won't check so I didn't glass it. The cabin sides and bulkhead are fir plywood and would check so I did glass them. Arnie's right. The epoxy by itself won't prevent checking. You need the cloth to do that.

You're cruising right along on this project. You might have her in the water before the water gets too hard.

[Russ Sylvester]

I vote with Arnie. I wanted as bulletproof deck as I could get. My daughter and her friends put it to the very acid test and it came through with flying colors. No checks or cracks and the cloth seemed to average out the undulations that I could see in the deck before glassing. Think of it as a damn big band-aid to cover up the boo-boos.

Russ

[warthog5]

What you guy's didn't mention with the glass added is the abrasion resistance went up.

[Shine]

A layer of 4-9 oz glass will do a lot of things for your boat...

Prevent checking

Increase abrasion resistance

Stiffen up the boat

Joel

Boatbuildercentral

[Barry Pyeatt]

The deck/cockpit are going to have non-skid applied to the surfaces so the surface doesn't need the finish work that you would do on the hull or say the cabin sides. Adding the glass will make a big difference on the top surfaces for all the reasons listed. Additionally it is the primary "wear" surface, so the non-skid over the glass is a really good thing to have. I wouldn't spend much time on making it absolutely smooth, you don't need it smooth and don't actually want it smooth. If you get onboard some of the "Classic" wooden yachts, you will notice that those with covered/painted decks have seams that are overlapped and very visible. No one else is likely to notice them. If you place them with some care as to location and width, they are just part of the boat.

[Marshall]

Thank you all - I have the glass and 1st coat of epoxy down and it actually

looks pretty good.

I can be more agressive with the sanding. The bottom and sides turned out so well, smooth, run free that I thought the topside would be just as easy. It wasn't ! ! ! ! ! But it turned out okay.

I put 4 coats on the bottom and sides, are three enough for the topside or should I do the 4 ?