is this hull repairable?

[sphelps]

I would just stick with polyester resin . Thats probably what you used before ... You will be doing wet on wet layups if you can .. The resin should be the unwaxed kind .. The bondo stuff at the box stores has wax in it ... Is there a place in town that deals with glass ?
The thin metal cutting blades for your angle grinder work really well for cutting fiberglass . It won't shake everything to pieces like a sawzall will sometimes ...

 

[cwlson]

I have to watch this for the educational valve. But please buy a 3M 6700 series respirator and cartridges to protect your lungs. You can probably pick one up for around twenty dollars or so, and some goggles as well. But post the pictures, I will be interested in this... :thumb:

I have a decent quality respirator that I used before doing fiberglass work

 

[cwlson]

So I do not have access to a air compressor for a grinder/sander what do you recommend I use in order to sand/grind

 

[cwlson]

I would just stick with polyester resin . Thats probably what you used before ... You will be doing wet on wet layups if you can .. The resin should be the unwaxed kind .. The bondo stuff at the box stores has wax in it ... Is there a place in town that deals with glass ?
The thin metal cutting blades for your angle grinder work really well for cutting fiberglass . It won't shake everything to pieces like a sawzall will sometimes ...

I ended up picking up west system epoxy resin.

 

[MTboatguy]

So I do not have access to a air compressor for a grinder/sander what do you recommend I use in order to sand/grind

You should pick up an inexpensive electric at home depot or a hardware store, you can usually find one that will work just fine for this for less than $20 bucks.

 

[cwlson]

You should pick up an inexpensive electric at home depot or a hardware store, you can usually find one that will work just fine for this for less than $20 bucks.

Electric angle grinder?

 

[MTboatguy]

Electric angle grinder?

Yup, I have air grinders, but I won't use them on fiberglass, they end up with to much abrasive dust in them, and I have rebuild them to often, so I use the electric ones.

 

[sphelps]

If ya have a H/F near by just get one of these .. http://www.harborfreight.com/4-12-in-43-amp-angle-grinder-60625.html

 

[cwlson]

If ya have a H/F near by just get one of these .. http://www.harborfreight.com/4-12-in-43-amp-angle-grinder-60625.html

I ended up picking up a cheap one at home depot. Tomorrow should be a big day.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

I ended up picking up west system epoxy resin.

Its your call there captain. Be aware that you may come across 'drainage' when working with that stuff. Meaning the resin could drain out of your glass. You also should get all your glass on in one session. If you got the fast hardener..it tends to kick fast..especially in the bucket. So work fast if you did. I doubt using the pumps will be useful when doing your big lams ( too slow to pump ). Get yourself set up with some measuring cups or something that you can pour measure.

If it were mine I would just use good quality poly resin. Not crap you buy at an auto body place..or big box store. Its gonna cost a bit more using West and I dont think a gallon kit is gonna make it through the repair. But if this is all you have locally ( and dont want to wait for an order )..then I guess thats that.

On the inside you're just grinding the glass for prep. Not really grinding into the glass as much as just cleaning it and exposing raw glass.

Set us up with some grind out pics

 

[Scott Danforth]

So I do not have access to a air compressor for a grinder/sander what do you recommend I use in order to sand/grind

harbor freight grinder. then you dont feel bad throwing it away when it dies.

 

[cwlson]

Its your call there captain. Be aware that you may come across 'drainage' when working with that stuff. Meaning the resin could drain out of your glass. You also should get all your glass on in one session. If you got the fast hardener..it tends to kick fast..especially in the bucket. So work fast if you did. I doubt using the pumps will be useful when doing your big lams ( too slow to pump ). Get yourself set up with some measuring cups or something that you can pour measure.

If it were mine I would just use good quality poly resin. Not crap you buy at an auto body place..or big box store. Its gonna cost a bit more using West and I dont think a gallon kit is gonna make it through the repair. But if this is all you have locally ( and dont want to wait for an order )..then I guess thats that.

On the inside you're just grinding the glass for prep. Not really grinding into the glass as much as just cleaning it and exposing raw glass.

Set us up with some grind out pics

I got the west systems epoxy because someone said it would be stronger. I got the slow hardener because I knew I was working with a large area

 

[nurseman]

I'm gonna tag along on this one if you don't mind. Looks interesting.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Well yea..sure Son.. But its not really mandatory. You could use it..or the poly. Totally up to you. Dont get me wrong, West is excellent stuff man!

But like I said up in my earlier post..be aware of drainage. Prepare things a little more 'in order' than what you would be if you were using poly. I mean..have a system down pat before you start mixing. Also, If you end up with a cured surface and you want to add more..you have to re-scuff and clean it Very well for the next layers. Its called 'Blushing'. Cant just hot coat it the next day like you could with unwaxed poly..

In any case..throw them pics our way when you get done with the grindage

 

[cwlson]

Well yea..sure Son.. But its not really mandatory. You could use it..or the poly. Totally up to you. Dont get me wrong, West is excellent stuff man!

But like I said up in my earlier post..be aware of drainage. Prepare things a little more 'in order' than what you would be if you were using poly. I mean..have a system down pat before you start mixing. Also, If you end up with a cured surface and you want to add more..you have to re-scuff and clean it Very well for the next layers. Its called 'Blushing'. Cant just hot coat it the next day like you could with unwaxed poly..

In any case..throw them pics our way when you get done with the grindage

Oh that sucks.... I didn't realize you couldn't hot coat it

 

[cwlson]

Could I use the west systems on the inside of the hull and use poly on the outside and for the deck since I feel more confident with getting a better finished product with the poly than I do with the west system. Would that be legit to do? I might as well use the west system since I already ordered it and have it here do what I can with that and order the poly for the rest?

 

[sphelps]

Epoxy will stick to poly but poly does not like to stick to epoxy .From what I have read here . So whatever you start the hull with is what you should use ..
Are you going to paint the hull or gell coat ..

 

[cwlson]

Epoxy will stick to poly but poly does not like to stick to epoxy .From what I have read here . So whatever you start the hull with is what you should use ..
Are you going to paint the hull or gell coat ..

I'm going to paint it

 

[zool]

Oh that sucks.... I didn't realize you couldn't hot coat it

don't sweat the blush, if u even get any with west epoxy.....you just wipe it down with water to remove...and laminating epoxy is far superior to any polyester product, with regards to strength, adhesion, and forgiveness in application.....the best two reasons to use poly are:

a: your boat is most likely made of poly

b: it has less issues with gelcoat adhesion

You can hot coat all you want, hot coating is using a chemical bond, not mechanical, so the layups should all be done before any cure, that goes for poly as well, and laminating with epoxy over a cured surface is still way stronger than laminating with poly over a similar cured surface, excluding poly over epoxy.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Oh that sucks.... I didn't realize you couldn't hot coat it

Sorry..wrong terminology. Im talking about 'cure coating' it. Yea you can keep laminating until it starts to kick. Then after its heat cycle you can go at it again without a problem. Its just when its Fully cured that becomes a bonding problem. If it does cure then you clean and scuff it.

You could use the epoxy on the inside and poly on the outside as long as its not poly over epoxy. Which to me it looks like your going to have a few spots that are gonna be back to back. You could however switch to vinylester resin on the outside. The deck you can solo with poly though. Im sure you're gonna see a difference when using poly vs epoxy in the application. IMO I would Never use epoxy in a boat repair unless its already epoxy or has some kind of wood involved. I would go straight to Vinylester resin before I used epoxy. Ive done it both ways and personally favor the poly.