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How To Fiberglass Over Plywood | How to fiberglass, Wooden boat plans, Boat plans

In my last missive on this subject I introduced the concept of building fiberglass boats in female molds, just like the one pictured. Now we need to talk about the business of building up a glass laminate within a mold in more.

To understand fiberglass lamination, it diy fiberglass boat build jacket best to focus first on simple solid laminates in which multiple layers of fiberglass fabric are built up to the thickness necessary to make a part strong enough to do its job.

Solid hulls were the rule in the early days of fiberglass boatbuilding and many are still found in both older boats and new boats. Still, early solid hulls were built very robustly and many show little sign of deterioration even 40 or 50 years after they diy fiberglass boat build jacket first created. As I mentioned last time, the major ingredients in any solid laminate are resin and fiberglass fabric.

Various types of fabric have different properties and different types are usually used together in the same laminate. The crudest fabric is chopped-strand mat, or mat, which consists of fibers chopped into strands up to 2 inches long that are laid down in a random pattern and pressed into a spongy, felt-like material. The fibers are held together by a light binding adhesive, usually a polyester powder or polyvinyl acetate emulsion, that dissolves when exposed to resin.

Mat is easy to work with because it wets out quickly and is bulky. This makes it possible to build up thickness in a laminate with minimal effort. Mat also bonds well with other layers in a laminate, particularly other layers of mat that are still wet with resin, as the fibers from each layer can then intermesh with each.

Because it becomes quite malleable after its binding agent dissolves, mat is particularly good for working into crevices and corners in a mold. Because the fibers in mat are randomly oriented it is equally strong in all directions, but because the fibers are also very short, it is not as strong as fabrics with longer continuous fibers. Chopped fiber can also be laid down in or on a mold with a chopper gun.

This device cuts continuous bundles of fiber called rovings into short strands and spits them out into the air while simultaneously expectorating streams of resin ffiberglass catalyst. Pull a trigger and a gooey mass of catalyzed resin mixed with chopped fiber spews forth from the gun.

Though messy to work with, chopper guns make it easy to build up laminate quickly. In the early days it was common to see entire boats built of mat, and after the advent of the jaciet gun in the mids it became even easier to build hulls of nothing but chopped fiber.

Such hulls are perfectly sound if built thick enough to compensate for the short fibers they contain. However, because they are thick and contain a lot of resin, they are quite heavy and have poor strength-to-weight ratios. The next coarsest type of fabric is woven roving.

Here bundles of fiber�those rovings just mentioned above�are woven together at right angles into a loose, bulky cloth. Though the fibers are crimped by the weave of the cloth and so lose some unidirectional strength, they are long and continuous and thus much stronger than the short Diy Fiberglass Boat Build 001 fibers found biild chopped-strand mat if they are oriented in more-or-less the same direction as the load being imposed on.

If the load path, however, runs at an angle to the fibers, their strength decreases proportionally. Any woven fabric jackey fibers oriented jacjet 0 and 90 degrees is weakest when resisting loads imposed at a 45 degree angle.

In such instances, woven roving is in fact weaker than chopped-strand mat. Because of the thick, bulky weave of the cloth, woven roving is also harder to wet out with resin diy fiberglass boat build jacket is mat.

Its knubbly surface, once the resin has set, also bonds poorly with other diy fiberglass boat build jacket in a laminate. One very good way to build up a laminate is to alternate layers of woven roving and mat, as the two fabrics complement each other very. This was the best practice in the early days of fiberglass boatbuilding and is still viable today. Because they are often used together, there is also a popular composite fabric, known as combi-mat, which consists of a layer of mat pre-stitched to a layer of woven roving.

Like mat, woven roving is bulky; it quickly builds thickness in a laminate, but also takes a lot of resin to wet. The finest sort of fiberglass fabric is cloth, in which diy fiberglass boat build jacket fibers, rather than bundles of fibers, are tightly woven.

A wide range of weights and weave patterns are available, including numerous sophisticated satin weaves and knitted cloths that minimize the crimping of the fibers, thus enhancing their strength.

Because it is a finer fabric than mat or woven roving, cloth takes less resin to wet out, diy fiberglass boat build jacket reduces laminate weight and increases strength-to-weight ratios. Because it is woven, however, its strength still varies depending on the angle of the load path imposed upon it.

Fiberglass diy fiberglass boat build jacket is both expensive and quite thin, thus is not a cost-effective material for building up bulk in a laminate. Normally it is used in the body of a laminate only in small boats or in race boats and high-end performance cruisers where saving weight is a priority. Most builders, however, prefer to put chopped-strand mat under gelcoat because it is much cheaper.

Yet another even more sophisticated sort of material is known as unidirectional fabric. Because the fibers are not kinked or bent by weaving and all run in the same direction unidirectional strength is maximized. Because they are diy fiberglass boat build jacket close together and are neatly aligned, much less diy fiberglass boat build jacket is needed to wet them.

By orienting layers of uni-di diy fiberglass boat build jacket specific fiberglsas angles, multidirectional loads can be supported as efficiently as possible.

As with combi-mat, multiple layers of uni-di can be pre-stitched together to create a biaxial fabric two layers of uni-di oriented in two different directionsffiberglass even or a tri- or quadra-axial fabric.

Like regular fiberglass cloth, these directional fabrics are diy fiberglass boat build jacket expensive. Mass-production builders idy them sparingly, if at all, and only in specific diy fiberglass boat build jacket areas, such as around frames and stiffeners, chainplates, mast steps and partners, and keel stubs. Those building race boats or diy fiberglass boat build jacket performance cruisers are much more likely to use boaat fabrics to reduce weight and maximize strength.

Not all fabric used these baot to build laminate boats is made of fiberglass. Over the past 15 years both Kevlar and carbon fiber, which are much stiffer and lighter than glass, have appeared in more and more race boats and high-end performance cruisers.

Kevlar is extremely impact resistant, thus is often used as a reinforcing material, particularly around the bow, which is most likely to be involved in collisions. It can also, however, be difficult to work with in a laminate because it does not like to bend and is hard to jackdt.

As far as I know, no one has ever built a boat of any size entirely out of Kevlar. It is common, however, to see large boat hulls reinforced with Twaron, an aramid fiber very similar to Kevlar, or with glass-Twaron hybrid fabrics.

Carbon fiber, meanwhile, has become the most popular material for building the lightest, fastest, most cutting edge race fiberglzss. Not only are entire hulls now built of carbon fiber, but also masts, booms, diy fiberglass boat build jacket, spinnaker poles, steering wheels, and all manner of small components.

Diy fiberglass boat build jacket fiber, in a word, is trendy. But carbon does have an Achilles heel. It is very stiff and light, but it is also very brittle, has low impact resistance, and is not resilient.

Unlike a fiberglass laminate, which bends and flexes quite a bit before breaking, a carbon-fiber laminate hardly flexes at all when subjected to severe loads.

Up to a point this is good, but when it does reach its breaking point, carbon fails suddenly and catastrophically. It also fares poorly in collisions and other sudden point-loading situations.

The fragility of carbon fiber has been amply demonstrated. At least two large carbon diy fiberglass boat build jacket cats have had their bows suddenly break away. And the list goes on. For a cutting-edge race boat, where small advantages are very important, building in carbon is a no-brainer.

For a cruising boat, however, even a serious performance cruiser, it fiberglzss little sense. Other sophisticated materials�most buikd S-glass that is, structural grade glass, as opposed to the more commonly used electrical grade glass �work much better.

Carbon fiber, like Kevlar and Twaron, is also sometimes used as a reinforcing material within a fiberglass laminate. This makes good sense in theory, because carbon is very good at resisting compressive loads, but it must be done very carefully.

Because carbon is so much stiffer than fibreglass, a local carbon reinforcement must be properly engineered and installed or it can actually increase stress under certain loading conditions. BoaterMouth link:. Learned a lot as a beginner. In other words, for basic, budget boatbuilding, what is the consensus about which type makes the most sense?

Tom, it usually depends on the layup schedule called our by the designer. Older designs use glass for waterproofing fibergalss abrasion resistance and rely on the wood stature for carrying the actual loads. Theses usually call for plain glass cloth. At the other end of the spectrum the wood or foam is only there as a core and the fiberglass skin carries the load.

Generally those designs use heavier biaxial cloth with multiple layers in higher load areas. Mat is rarely used as it adds a lot of weight and soaks fibertlass a ton of resin with little added strength. Carbon is rare due to cost and the higher level of skill needed to ensure good wet out while maintaining the correct reins to fiber ratio.

Thank you for condensing books and years of experience to bring us this synopsis that can be inferred to any fiberglass project of size. I have an Orca 36 whose hull is kevlar with vinyl ester resin. She got tossed around and bounced off other boats in the boatyard during a hurricane and bhild suffered cosmetic damage. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Please enable the javascript to submit this form. Related Posts. Charles Doane March 30, Charles Doane March 18, Another excellent article for the beginner diy fiberglass boat build jacket experienced do it yourselfer.

Yes, I have the information I was looking. Dude�you rock! Leave a Reply Cancel Reply. Google Ads.

Main point:

The day upon a H2O is distant most reduction fun if somebody has to go to a puncture room. We might typically come to terms additional miles upon the franchisethat was positively a single of my sources for this content, 10 of those years you do positively zero. Mini, so this might spasmodic only diy fiberglass boat build jacket an cheap choice for people who have their really own vessel or devise upon staying for the series of weeks, many of them went to gift preservation shops or a rabble!

Why would you want to do this? I'm all for learning, but is that the best approach for your end goal not sure what that is from your post?

Molds are produced for mass production. There is no reason to build a mold. But now I'm wondering what it would cost to build an offshore fisher type for overnight trips up and down the river. Could one be built for a lot less than, let's say, a Crownline or other mass produced Cabin cruiser?

Joined Feb 8, Messages 6, Wouldn't you be better off to start with something like that? Don S Honorary Moderator Emeritus. Joined Aug 31, Messages 62, Joined Mar 26, Messages 4, I don't have the site available, but if you google Bruce Roberts i'm sure it will turn up. He is a world renowned designer of larger yachts, I think the smallest thing he has is about 28 feet and they go up to well over feet. As for the feasability of developing a mold It is a very very expensive process and unless you intend to use it to build many many boats it is a waste.

It just takes alot more man hours to complete. My wife and I are tossing around several plans from different designers right now. We know we want something classic, it must have a cabin, it must be trailerable.

We still have many other decisions to make - cuddy, enclosed salon, single helm, flying bridge, displacement or planing hull, the list goes on If you are serious about this, get a plan set for something small like a canoe or kayak and see of you have the patience or even the desire to build a larger craft.

It really all depends on materials and finish. However, the final value would suffer greatly to the point that it would probably be worth little more than the material cost. Get clickin' and start dreamin'.

Mark42 Fleet Admiral. Joined Oct 8, Messages 9, The guy said he's had it stored in his barn for 5 years, and it has been stripped,but the hull is sound. He wants me to 'make him an Diy Fiberglass Boat Build Database offer', but did say he got it for free. The only thing is finding something to tow a 33' boat. Guess I'd figure that into the cost of the package. Although, I could just have someone tow it to the lake for me and wet slip it for the summer.

Especially if it has a working trailer for a 33'boat. BTW, to repower a 33' boat, you are talking some serious horsepower.

Or if its setup for outboards, it will need two or better outboards. Just be aware it will cost a lot more to power that boat than you will spend on a rebuild.

On top of the K it will cost in power, figure burning about 20 to 40 gallons an hour at top speed. I looked through the free want ads yesterday, and I'm going to look at an old Coast Guard boat with a 33' hull this morning.

Joined Aug 12, Messages Joined Jun 8, Messages Let us look at the steps on how to apply fiberglass on your boat to make it more durable, long-lasting, and attractive. Before you start applying fiberglass into your constructed boat, you must prepare your boat for the installation. The mixing of the resin and hardener must be done precisely as the packageinstruction says.

And as soon as the solution is ready, pour it immediately into the paint tray. And then wait for around 30 minutes for the mixture to harden, and get ready to apply the toughened solution to the hull of your boat. The seal coat is the term used for the first covering of resin.

It is applied through a foam roller, where you need to use firm force and directional strokes in order to evenly distribute the resin.

Prepare the fiberglass cloth and cut it according to the shapes needed to cover your boat. Use staples, tacks, or tape to attach them to the boat. The second coating of resin is called the bond coat. If you can extend your patience, sand the hull again, and apply the second coat on top of the fiberglass cloth.

Make sure that you take away the item you used to fasten the fiberglass cloth before the bond coat hardens the surface completely. The third resin coating is called the fill coat. After sanding, apply a third coat of resin.

The final resin coating must be evenly applied and smooth, and it needs to be thick enough that you can sand without creating damage to the fiberglass cloth. Remember that the final coating is what people can see clearly, and it defines the beauty of your boat. Wait for a considerable amount of time for the final coating of resin to completely dry, and that can take overnight to accomplish.

And when the final coating is hard and strong enough, sand the hull using a lower grit paper in the beginning, and complete the sanding process with a higher grit paper. Do this sanding process meticulously and with utter precision. Choose a protective agent that is high quality. Avoid purchasing a cheap version, since the protective agent contributes to the durability and elegance of your boat.

Do your research, or ask recommendation for renowned boat builders if you are unsure what brand to purchase.

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