Bought my first boat to cut, gut and rebuild from bow to stern, including engine. Killed my back and suffered the wrath of the fiberglass demons

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
17x12ft is very large. Who measures the resin in weight. isn't that in gallons?
Yeah it is large.... like I said...I gave him larger numbers than what I probably need su I know what I'm possibly looking at for a ball park price
 

kcassells

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
8,720
Cross reference pricing with online US Composites
12' wide is way ridiculous. Just lap it.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Today was a productive day. Didn't get done exactly what I wanted to do but productive nonetheless. Got some more supplies including 25%of what I need for glassing. The guy was great! Answered all my questions and even threw in stir sticks..... chip brushes.... mini paint rollers... roller heads and even a fiberglass roller! He even took about 50.00 off the price and called it an even 300.00! Got an electric scissors from harbor freight as well as another angle grinder. Mine made it through all my grinding but finally sparked.... smoked and took a crap today. Got my csm and 1708 hung up in the tent.... got a pop up tent for extra work space in the rain....I created transom templates. I realized that the transom isn't 1½inch wide like I suspected. It's only an inch wide. I'll probably do something to that to make it wider. There's also a small triangular section at the bottom of the transom that is wider then the rest of it. I had to create a 3rd template for that and I'll just have to grind the plywood down about ⅛ inch. I grabbed my fuel tank and got the old hoses off of it. Found some fiberglass powder inside the inlet..... found this odd because I removed it from the tent long before I started grinding. I stuck the shop vac inside but I don't know if I got it all. Hopefully so. I busted out my wire brush attachment for the grinder and started cleaning up the tank.... boy did she ever get shiny! I'm looking for pin holes. So far so good! I'll probably cover the tank in a layer of resin just to give it an added layer of protection. Next up..... stringer templates.... wood cutting and glassing!

I also see that I'm goimgto have some decent sized gaps at the bottom of the transom will that be an issue?

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TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Cleaned up the gas tank today.... she looks brand new! Did a 3lb pressure test... all good there! I played with the resin catalyst and cabosil mix and slapped a layer of resin on half of the tank. Will get the other half later. Will check to see if the reason hardened when I get home.
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Chris51280

Ensign
Joined
Jan 24, 2018
Messages
932
why are you putting resin on the tank?
the cleanup may not have been needed. aluminum like copper form a protective patina.. I will come back anyways
 

kcassells

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Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
8,720
I've read about that before but never understood the reasoning of coating it. My tank went raw and did the patina. Never set in foam and set on the recommended rubber pads to prevent another corrosion.

In any event I found this discussion to be the most relative regarding aluminum fuel tanks.
 
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TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
why are you putting resin on the tank?
the cleanup may not have been needed. aluminum like copper form a protective patina.. I will come back anyways
It was a recommendation from someone here a while back. I also wanted to give it added protection. I know clean up wasn't necessary, but she's been treated horribly.....Just felt fitting to clean the tank up.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
I've read about that before but never understood the reasoning of coating it. My tank went raw and did the patina. Never set in foam and set on the recommended rubber pads to prevent another corrosion.

In any event I found this discussion to be the most relative regarding aluminum fuel tanks.
It was a recommendation on here a while back, and the way it was explained made sense, so I did it.....but for the life of me, I can't find the post.
 

stresspoint

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 19, 2022
Messages
1,045
probably not the best idea to coat the tank in resin or for that matter powder coat as some do .
best is to get some epoxy paint and a good splash over.

any chips in the resin that get salt water in start to corrode and can ruin a perfectly good tank over time , just paint it or leave it raw.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
probably not the best idea to coat the tank in resin or for that matter powder coat as some do .
best is to get some epoxy paint and a good splash over.

any chips in the resin that get salt water in start to corrode and can ruin a perfectly good tank over time , just paint it or leave it raw.
I'm in Wisconsin. No salt water for me
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
I cut one piece of plywood today and laid down my first Layer of glass! Took 2 cups of resin. I put down a piece of csm on it..... but I do have a question now..... there's little csm fuzzies on the edges and resin for under and hardened on the other side and it's not nice and flush anymore.... how do I get rid of the fuzzies or keep them from happening again and what can I do about the clumped up resin?

I also got neoprene strips and 5200 and Laid out steps under the fuel tank.

I also took a gamble and purchased that powerhead I found on ebay..... don't judge me. This is how i learn🤣... got the old powerhead off and cleaned up everything with the power washer. I even got lucky and fond a new fake on Amazon that fits perfectly!

Tomorrow ill work more on the transom and getting the powerhead installed.
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TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Oops. Forgot to add pics
 

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Drivewayboater2

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Aug 21, 2019
Messages
334
Did you use the roller on the csm? If you roll it out when things are wet it won’t clump. you can sand/ grind the clumps flush. Learning curve.
the extra fuzzies happen. Cut them with the multi tool. It happens.
 
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