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I was thinking about the process of fiberglassing the interior of my strip composite rowboat.  From my reading, canoe builders (whom I'm stealing many ideas from) complain about a few related problems, specifically that it is difficult to clear coat the interior because of runs and that the runs result in puddles at the bottom of the boat.  Preventing this drip problem requires diligent attention to scooping up runoff and precise application of each epoxy coat. 

While filling the multitude of cracks between my strips, I came up with a potential solution and I'd like feedback on it. Keep in mind that I intend to paint the inside of my boat.  This wouldn't work for clear coat finishes.

The first wetting out coat of epoxy on dry cloth would still use straight epoxy, but what if, instead of using straight epoxy on the second and third coats, you added fillers?  That would accomplish several things.  First, your coats would not run as much as straight epoxy if we add thixotropic agents.  Second, the coats would build faster, possibly eliminating the need for a third coat entirely.  Finally, the addition of fillers would result in a stronger composite than two layers of straight epoxy. 

I hypothesize that a ketchup mixture of fumed silica plus wood flour and/or milled fibers, applied as the first coat is at the gel state of cure, would be ideal. 

In conclusion, adding fillers to the second coat when laminating fiberglass interiors could save much work and result in faster, more professional finishes. 

Opinions?

What you've described Will is how most professionals do things. The wetout coat needs to be straight epoxy, but the rest are to fill the weave and any other imperfections, so fillers are used.

On a small part last year, that needed to be finished bright all around, I mounted it on a lathe type of thing. I have a very slow turning lathe for smoothing up spars and it's RPM is about 100. This is too fast for what I wanted, so I put a smaller pulley on the motor and dropped it down to about 40 RPM. This was still a little fast, but worked. I varnished up the piece and mounted it on the lathe. The idea was, with is slowing spinning, sags and drips couldn't form, because they weren't in position long enough for gravity to do it's deed. Of course a boat is a different story, but If I had a small runabout or Pea Pod to finish all bright, I'd consider a larger version of this rig, maybe spraying finish as it spun.

Thanks Paul!  I thought it sounded to good to be new.  I like the boat rotisserie idea too! 

(01-09-2013, 03:16 AM)Will_Lavender link Wrote: [ -> ]... I like the boat rotisserie idea too!  ...

Bigger than a Peapod ...



Just need to add a base with motorized rollers and you are there.

I cannot find them at the moment but I remember seeing photos of another guy who decided that the best way to turn his hull was to build a pair of A-frames over his boat to support a pipe on bearings. He ran 2 inch wide nylon webbing straps around the boat and pipe in a continuous loop. Then he attached a sprocket to the end of the pipe and powered it with a garage door opener motor. The difference in diameters between the pipe and the boat served as a reduction drive and the boat turned slowly. Viola, boat rotisserie!

Cheers,
Tom

Holy crap!  It's amazing what you can find on the Internet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...9SMbDCfc#!

http://www.capsizer.com/capsizer.php



Cheers,
Tom