I'm building a race hatch and some other stuff for my Cobra and I bought 1" Baltec Decolite sandwiched balsa panels. My question is do I need to layer more fiberglass on the exterior of the panels for surface strength. And if I do what weight(oz.) fiberglass cloth should I use. I plan on painting over everthing and i seems like there are a lot of surface imperfections in the panels, can I just smooth it with epoxy or do I need the glass.

How big of a span?
I see it is a hatch. 1 inch is pretty stout.
if it is under 4 feet reglassing would not be nessasary.
The surface on the panels need finish work before
appying paint. a Skim of Epoxy resin would work fine.

I just finished a 4feet X6feet span with 3/4
This was the base of a birth. (BED).

It appears to be solid. Then again most of my girls weigh
under 250

Gerry

The hatch will be about 2.5ft.x6ft. What type of glass should I use to top it off. Only problem is when I stripped the boat the NO FAT CHICKS sticker on the dash came off too. Might have to get a new one.

I think that the bottom glass will be more important? The stress from weight is on the bottom not the top.

Jon

No problem glassing both sides. I'm worried about it being dented if something hits it on the exterior. Still need to know what the best fiberglass weight and or weave I should use in this application. I'm confused about all the different cloths that are available. I just want a nice flat paintable surface when I'm finished.