Re: Leak at traveler - minifish
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It's actually not that hard.? There's a couple of ways to go about it, depending on how big the area is.? This is how I've done it on the boats I've built, but there are a ton of other ways to do it.
For a small spot I use a chip brush (cheap) or a 4" foam roller and put some epoxy on the area you're working on.? Then carefully lay on the fiberglass mat.? For a larger area, I place the fiberglass mat on the area dry and smooth out all the wrinkles I can then use the roller or brush to carefully (the mat will want to slide) apply some epoxy.
One of the tricks I've found is to save every piece of plastic?like grocery store loyalty cards, old credit cards, etc.? They make really nice spreaders.? Once you have some epoxy on the mat, use the card to go over the entire area.? The mat takes a while to soak in the epoxy and you don't want it "floating" in the epoxy.? The card helps you press it down and lets you scrape off the excess fairly quickly.? On the first coat, you're aiming to have no bubbles in the cloth and to have the entire coth wet.? Don't try to fill in the weave of the mat now.? Just get it so it's stuck down and uniformly wet -- you'll see a color change when you do it.? Dry spots will be more whiteish.? Once you get it all wet out, use the card to scrape off (carefully) any excess epoxy.? Then you wait.
You can wait until it's dry and do some touch up sanding if needed.? Or once it's barely tacky you can apply another coat.? This time you can use the roller and put more on to start to fill the weave.? This may take multiple coats, depending on the thickness of? the mat.? If you're doing multiple layers of mat this is the time to add the next layer and repeat.
The plastic card lets you move the cloth a little as you go, so you should be able to apply it to a 90 degree corner, etc.? If the corner is bad, build it up with thickened epoxy (wood flour, saw dust, etc) or use fairing compound.? If there are holes and gaps you'll never get the cloth to lay right and will have air pockets.
If you get air pockets, you can use a utility knife to cut them out once things are dry.? Then sand and fill the little hole, and add a new section of mat over the hole.
It sounds a lot harder than it is.? It just takes time because you have to leave it alone and let it dry between coats.
I appreciate and celebrate that my original question has brought about spirited debate?and a wealth of knowledge.? I thought I'd take a minute and update everyone on what I've decided to do.
I looked into the West repair kit.? Oddly, it's cheapest on Amazon and with free shipping, I can't beat that.??
Obviously I decided to go with epoxy.? Why?? It'll work and is readily available in a repair kit that won't bust the bank.?
My next trick will be figuring out how to make those corners (chine and keel) continue to look like corners.? You can find a ton of videos online of fiberglass repair of flat spots.? Well, I get that you need to crawl before you can walk, and it's iffy whether I can even crawl at this point.? But I haven't found anything on repairing a cornered shape.? I remember trying to fix a corner of sheetrock back in the day with no success.? I'll try to keep in mind "Any fiberglass problem can be fixed with a sufficient amount of sanding" and the fact this boat will never be in the boat show.
My many thanks for the information and opinions from this board. I'm sure I'll muck up something and have more questions along the way.
My best regards,
-Joel __________________________________________________
Joel?
Ventilation is important when using polyester resin.? I once had a job as a patternmaker?for a company that made aerodynamic fairings for trucks.? The building I worked in was very large but my work area was near the spray booth where they used the chop gun with the resin/glass mixture.? The doors to the building were usually open but one particular day it was quite cold outside and the doors were closed and the smell of the resin was quite heavy.? At one point I needed to take a measurement with my tape.? I could see the numbers and all the hash marks and my vision was perfectly clear.? But my brain could not tell me what all of that meant and I had no idea what the measurement was.? I turned and walked out to get a few breaths of fresh air, then came back in, picked up my tools, and left for the day.? As far as I know, there was no lasting damage.? I didn't stay in the job much longer.
James
On Mon, Jul 6, 2020 at 7:24 PM crispin_m_miller < crispinmm@...> wrote: Thanks.? At the place I bought it (in 1984) that was the only kind on the shelf.? Later saw catalog listings for polyester resin “with wax” and “no wax.”? Just didn’t want Joel to get surprised.
cm
> On Jul 6, 2020, at 5:14 PM, gdinwiddie <sunfish@...> wrote:
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>> On 7/6/20 5:50 PM, crispin_m_miller wrote:
>> At least in the days when I last used polyester (35 years ago) some polyester resin would come with a little bit of wax mixed in, which would float to the surface and seal it well enough that the catalyst would stay in and the surface would cure.? BUT then if you had another layer of glass to apply, you’d have to get that wax off or you’d get no adhesion at all.
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> Yes, they call that "finishing resin." I've never used it. It made more sense to me to get some PVA (which is also used as a mold release) than to get two kinds of resin for the small amount of glasswork I do.
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> - George
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