Glassing a livewell

[1970 Chieftain V]

My project is a 30x18x24 livewell. The actual water capacity is about 35 gallons. I am going to make this with a foam core and fiberglass. My problem: I can only find polystyrene foam locally and I want to use polyester resin. 2 reasons for this, polyester resin is much cheaper than epoxy and available locally, and epoxy would be overkill for this application.

I have not used fiberglass before as I have an aluminum boat. So I have 2 questions:

1. I read on an RC airplane forum about wrapping the foam in masking tape to protect it from the PE resin. Has anyone done this or is it even an option?

2. I don't know how to estimate the amount of resin and glass I would need? i.e how many layers would it require? How many gallons of resin? What should the layup schedule be? (CSM, cloth, CSM, Cloth? or 2 layers of 1708?)

Thank you for taking time to answer a rookie fiberglass guys questions.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Glassing a livewell

Hiya Chief..

ERmm.. Idunno about wrapping with tape..but you could try some spray can enamel to coat it..then Test with PE to see if attacking happens.. if not..then coat with PE and layup

1 lam of 1.5oz mat and 2 1708 should be ok.

Are you lamming inside and out of your foam form ?..

Quantity of glass you should be able to know ..the resin..well that would depend on how much you waste during your lams

Should be ok with 2 gals of resin. If you run out then get some more and hot coat ( or get 3 and return what you dont use ).

YD.

 

[1970 Chieftain V]

Re: Glassing a livewell

Thanks Dr.

Yes inside and out will be laminated. I never thought of the enamel spray paint. I might give that a try and see if it works.

I do know the amount of glass I need. It was more a question of the number of layers and a rough estimate of the amount of resin it takes per layer.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Glassing a livewell

You can use the construction foam from one of the big hardware stores, it normally has a foil coating on it and is a yellowish tan color. Peel the foil off and it works OK, its not very strong, but should be fine for insulating a cooler.

For the amount of resin, figure the surface area and the number layers of glass, the glass is classified by its weight 1.5 oz mat is 1.5 ozs per square foot.
1708 is 17 oz?s per sq yard of stitched fabric and .08 oz?s of mat per square foot

Mat holds about double it?s weight in resin and the stitched fabric holds closer to equal it?s weight. So add up the amount and type of glass and use those figures calculate the amount of resin.

Make sure you get extra resin though, you need to wet out the foam plus you?ll waste some.

Or, buy a cooler in the size you need and get live a well kit for it.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Glassing a livewell

I just insulated the outside of my plastic livewell with polystyrene sheet insulation from Lowes. The face of the insulation had a barrier plastic on it so you might not need to protect the face, edges you would though.

Same as you, I wished I could have found pink/blue closed cell sheet insulation

 

[1970 Chieftain V]

Re: Glassing a livewell

You can use the construction foam from one of the big hardware stores, it normally has a foil coating on it and is a yellowish tan color. Peel the foil off and it works OK, its not very strong, but should be fine for insulating a cooler.

For the amount of resin, figure the surface area and the number layers of glass, the glass is classified by its weight 1.5 oz mat is 1.5 ozs per square foot.
1708 is 17 oz?s per sq yard of stitched fabric and .08 oz?s of mat per square foot

Mat holds about double it?s weight in resin and the stitched fabric holds closer to equal it?s weight. So add up the amount and type of glass and use those figures calculate the amount of resin.

Make sure you get extra resin though, you need to wet out the foam plus you?ll waste some.

Or, buy a cooler in the size you need and get live a well kit for it.

Thank you that is the info I was looking for. Not a whole lot of room in the cockpit so the live well will double as a place to sit while in transit. Anchovies are very "delicate" bait. Without good turnover of wter they die pretty quickly. I have tried the cooler with a livewell kit and it didn't work.

I just insulated the outside of my plastic livewell with polystyrene sheet insulation from Lowes. The face of the insulation had a barrier plastic on it so you might not need to protect the face, edges you would though.

Same as you, I wished I could have found pink/blue closed cell sheet insulation

That is the same stuff I got. I am going to try and see if it works. If it doesn't work just a little time put into it and I will get epoxy. I think the polyisocyanurate (pink/blue stuff) isn't sold on the west coast.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Glassing a livewell

I think the polyisocyanurate (pink/blue stuff) isn't sold on the west coast.

They used to sell it here in Vegas at the big box stores a couple years ago. I was under the impression they didn't sell enough of it and replaced it with the cheap polystyrene foam.

If you are making this for chovies and dines the corners should be rounded so they don't stack up in the corners and beat them selves to death, round the ends so the bait swims around, and around, and around, and around, etc, etc, so forth and so on. Have you looked at other's who have made glass livewells? I've seen a couple people who made them for So Cal fishing, looked really nice. Check out bloodydecks.com, that's where I saw guys making livewells for chovies and dines.