Does marine grade ply need to be acclimated?

[DeepBlue2010]

Guys, it is getting a little warmer now in Seattle and I am thinking of going back to my project. I have couple of questions for you



Does marine grade plywood need to be acclimated? If so, is it the 6 weeks - at least - recommended for exterior grade?



Average temperature here is about 50 during the day, can I fiberglass - hull & deck - in this temperature?



Thanks

 

[archbuilder]

Re: Does marine grade ply need to be acclimated?

I would think a few days would handle acclimating....most wood floors require only 48 hours. In boats, I don't typically worry about a little movement in plywood, which is inherently pretty stable (assuming it isn't wet or coming from a drastically different area, humidity wise.)

50 is pretty cold for glass, but you could get it to fire off with heat lamps or a portable heater. A simple halogen light works great for small areas. Large areas like floors are more problematic unless you have a heater of some type. Make sure you have good ventilation, poly will burn! One other thing that will help, try to store your poly in a warm room. Starting out with cold poly will only make it harder to fire off.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: Does marine grade ply need to be acclimated?

Yep 48 hours is what I've always heard. 50 is way too cold to glass without some heat source. Do a search on the forum there was a great post by Oops about glassing in cold weather.

 

[HAS]

Re: Does marine grade ply need to be acclimated?

Deepblue 2010
I know a fiberglass man that has helped me a lot, he makes his oun moulds
and makes boats. On thing he told me was to paint bare wood with a 50/50 mix
of fiberglass resin and acetone and do the edges twice, you can still put
fibergiass on it where you need it. Hope this is something you can use.

GOOD LUCK..................HAS