13 yr old grandson asks me a glass mat question

[edwardh1]

Grandson is redoing a jon boat - the standard 30 year old fiberglass jon boat, neighbor gave it to him- - 15 ft, 4 1/2 ft wide with a bad transom. He's 13 and is doing most of the work himself- he called tonight- he has made a "new" replacement transom and has glassed it into the boat with one layer of glass mat around the transom edges- his question- how many layers of mat to bond the transom to the boat sides and bottom ? 2? 3? boat has 15 inch transom with 25 HP 2 stroke Yammaha

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 13 yr old grandson asks me a glass mat question

Are you close enough to "check his work" ???? 3 layers are good plus peanut butter mix if the proper prep has been done and I would want to check the work since he has a 25 hp ob.

 

[solar7647]

Re: 13 yr old grandson asks me a glass mat question

Wow 13!! That great....with supervision right? Not many kids that age wont to do any work let alone fiberglass work!

I would have to agree with Bob 3 is good

 

[erikgreen]

Re: 13 yr old grandson asks me a glass mat question

It's great that he's into working on it at that age.

3 layers of mat is a good start, but I'd personally be nervous about using only mat. It's not as strong as directional glass. I'd recommend either three layers of mat and 18 oz roving (alternating) or alternating layers of fiberglass cloth of some weight and mat, or use 1708 biaxial instead of the mat.

Outboard transoms have to be very strong and strongly bonded to the rest of the boat, so they're a good place for a little extra strength.

Erik