BYYB Forums

I have fibreglassed the bottom of my weekender, painted, flipped it back upright and now I am trying to decide what to fibreglass on the topsides.
I will definitely do the deck and cabin roof.
I am thinking I should do the floor of the cockpit and the seat bottoms.
But should I also do the back rests of the seats and the sides of the cabin?
Do I just do everything or is that overkill?

The main reason I am asking is that I wouldn't call myself a "fine craftsman" and the more I touch the boat the uglier it gets. I started with beautifully smooth wood and by the time I got through building, gluing, fibreglassing and painting the hull looks like it was built out of stucco spread on the Friday afternoon before a long weekend.
I will coat everything I don't fibreglass in penetrating epoxy and paint, but how much should I fibreglass?

Thanks,
Steven Goodman
(One day I'll get around to posting pics)
(Future S/V Isla)

Ahoy Steve,

I would be the last one to ask about fiberglassing and epoxy. Like yourself, I had a number of problems. If I may, let me offer some insight, more of a reflection on my own difficulties than anything else.

Keep the epoxy thin and thick. Applying epoxy in very thin layers worked out best for us. It is a lot easier to add another layer than to remove a cured layer by sanding. Keep your epoxy thin, and your patience won't grow thin.

Keep the epoxy thick, especially on vertical surfaces. If the epoxy runs on you, you're applying too much at one time, or you're not using enough thickner in your concoction. Sometimes a mayonnaise consistency will work; other times, you need the thickness of peanut butter.

We did not fiberglass our cabin walls, but I do recall brushing a thin layer of epoxy on the surface to fill the wood cells and to coat the surface. After that, we used a good exterior paint (primer first, however).

I'd suggest to fibreglass all areas topside exposed to the outdoors. Leave the cabin interior, inside seat boxes bare wood, and cover with 2 coats of good quality deck paint.

As was mentioned, thin coats of epoxy, to fill the weaves in the fibreglass. I used an autobody plastic spreader to remove excess, and keep things smooth. Slow and steady, and it's good to have a reliable helper mix the batches, as you apply them.

I pinned the glass fabric on the wood, then applied the epoxy, spread it around, make sure it pentrates to the wood, remove the pins as you go.

Hope this helps.

Greg

I'm almost ready to glass as well. I plan on covering all exposed surfaces as well. After reading the posting, I didn't realize glassing requires multiple coats? The video from Stevensons shows applying one coat ontop of the fiberglass matting and that is it. Are most people adding multiple coats?

i did three coats of epoxy (three times in the inside) on 3X (get the name yet). the first coat wet out the cloth enough so that it held. the second coat (after a light sanding) filled in most dryed out spots but don't let this happen, and the third coat just leveled it out (mostly) then a few coats of uv resistent varnish and you should be all set.

what about epoxy paint when the fiberglass is done? i was thinking that perhaps a lot of the filling that takes place with bondo could be passed up by applying epoxy paint. thus less sanding?? does this make sence?