Re: Point Comfort 23
Posted by MarkR on
URL: http://riverswest-forums.266.s1.nabble.com/Point-Comfort-23-tp527p569.html
Most of the keel land will have a 10" wide, 17 ounce fiberglass biaxial tape set in epoxy to reinforce the keelson and tie the port and starboard hull panels together. This is applied from the transom to about 5' aft of the stem. That forward area is severe enough that the heavy glass might not conform to the contours. So I will be using a double layer of lighter glass up there.
The glass was laid out on the hull as shown above, ready to take epoxy. The Silvertip epoxy is used to saturate the cloth and the plywood under it. It takes a while for the epoxy to completely saturate the heavy cloth. I'm using slow hardener for this and after many years of using fast hardener on small boats, this process seems almost leisurely.
Multiple small batches were mixed and applied. It seemed that doing about three feet at a time was best. I'd wet out a section and by the time I got back with another batch, the area was ready for more epoxy and was saturated enough to lay down properly.
Once the whole keel area was completely laid down, rolled out and bubble-free, I took a break. After an hour or so a fill coat with West System 410 filler mixed to about 50% by volume was applied. This didn't completely fill the weave, but got it much closer to flat. It will need another fill coat as the weave of the 17 ounce tape is pretty bulky.
This work is in preparation for final glassing. Once the rest of the keelson, stem, chines and transom joints are reinforced, the whole hull will be fiberglassed with 10 ounce cloth.
URL: http://riverswest-forums.266.s1.nabble.com/Point-Comfort-23-tp527p569.html
Most of the keel land will have a 10" wide, 17 ounce fiberglass biaxial tape set in epoxy to reinforce the keelson and tie the port and starboard hull panels together. This is applied from the transom to about 5' aft of the stem. That forward area is severe enough that the heavy glass might not conform to the contours. So I will be using a double layer of lighter glass up there.
The glass was laid out on the hull as shown above, ready to take epoxy. The Silvertip epoxy is used to saturate the cloth and the plywood under it. It takes a while for the epoxy to completely saturate the heavy cloth. I'm using slow hardener for this and after many years of using fast hardener on small boats, this process seems almost leisurely.
Multiple small batches were mixed and applied. It seemed that doing about three feet at a time was best. I'd wet out a section and by the time I got back with another batch, the area was ready for more epoxy and was saturated enough to lay down properly.
Once the whole keel area was completely laid down, rolled out and bubble-free, I took a break. After an hour or so a fill coat with West System 410 filler mixed to about 50% by volume was applied. This didn't completely fill the weave, but got it much closer to flat. It will need another fill coat as the weave of the 17 ounce tape is pretty bulky.
This work is in preparation for final glassing. Once the rest of the keelson, stem, chines and transom joints are reinforced, the whole hull will be fiberglassed with 10 ounce cloth.
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