cyrus77

iTrader: (4)

I am new to boats. I bout a 1981 formula LS302. When I got into it I saw that it needed stringers...I am handy so I would do it.

The boat store recommend a blue fiberglass resin and tri-axial weave fiberglass, premium materaials. The resin was typicall- ~$350 a bucket.

Where is a tutorial when you need one?

All wood done with Greenwood Plywood.

I mixed the fiberglass resin which was blue-ish color and MEKP at 0.8% due to it being hot out. I only got a few minute till it got a little thicker. It could be used for up to an hour then it got hot and hard.
Is this right? how long is it ok to work with?

NOW the frustration part. I only had triaxial FG. I painted the surface quickly put the glass on and paint over it....It would not soak up the resin. I end up folding the piece up and dunking it in resin to get good penatraion. This made the job REALLY hard. I wish I could have put it on and painted it. It took ~3 days. My back is killing me. What am I doing wrong??? Please help a noob out.

FIXX

iTrader: (2)

if its the really thick woven roven it really needs a lot of soak time..your best bet is to go to us composits and order about 15 yards of 1708 and a roll of 1708 6'' tabbing or tape you eill need to go over the stringers 2 times with this 1708 to equal the woven roven..i would also use a vinyl ester resin,you have more working time and when mixed rite it dont get real hot for a long period..once the resin soaks into the 1708 roll it out with a fiberglass roller to push the mat down to make the bonding stronger to the existing resin,then go over it with a bondo spreader to push out the excess resin for strength..you dont want to do what they call float the fiberglass which will only pop off over time...
http://www.shopmaninc.com/specialty.html

cyrus77

iTrader: (4)

Soak time. Do you mean you literally place it submerged?

FIXX

iTrader: (2)

you need a big azz brush to brush on the resin,or a foam roller to force the resin into the thick woven roven..it wont just soak in rite away you have to work in...i have seen people poar the resin in with 5 gallon buckets then work it around with a squeegee...then vacume bag it to pull all the resin out..

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

Liebco makes a roller specifically for resins and adhesives, makes life real easy. It is part number 895009 frieze 9V95, looks like a piece of low nap carpet on a roll. I buy them by the case but you'd be surprised how many hardware stores have them (or can get them, Liebco that is)

Sounds like your troubles started with the boat stores recommendation of anything greater the a bi-ax for a do it your self project. The only glass you need is 1708 and few yards of ounce and a half mat along with a good vinylester resin. Not sure what greenwood is but if it is plywood pressure treated with Cuprinol you might as well get the saw back out. There is almost no reason you should ever dunk any sort of cloth into a bucket of resin. The process for wet out is pretty simple. Per wet the surface and put up your pre cut laminate then with the roller mentioned above proceed to wet the outside of the laminate working in the resin. On some bi ax's upwards or 24oz i may per wet the surface as well as the mat side of the laminate slightly (seems to help the process move along a little quicker). After it is saturated you need to balance out the excess resin by "troweling" the surface with a yellow bondo squeegee. Pull the excess down and out of the bilge, leaves a nice uniform surface. Generally i will work on wet out and not worry to much about cleanliness to start, once i feel everything has enough resin i will switch to a detail roller and squeegee and start pulling. The whole process of putting the surface laminates on the inside of a set transom should only take about a half hour.

Sorry to hear you had so much trouble i know it can be aggravating.

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

oops i dont know why i thought this was a transom job, disregard some uh that lol


At any rate the tri ax was the wrong laminate and should have been a standard 1708 bi ax. For slammer projects and stringer i get the small pink 4 inch rollers from home depot. They wet out well and also help work the laminate into place.