fiberglassing sides and bottom

I am ready to glass the bottom of my boat.the plans suggest 24oz cloth for the bottom.I have also been thinking of glassing the sides but am not sure about that.I will be coating the interior with epoxy and gel coating the exterior.I am looking for any advise from those of you who have done this before.So far my biggest questions are how much epoxy I'll need and if polyester resin will also work.Thankyou in advance for any responses.-dreu

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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on December 20, 2015 at 6:56pm

Glassing the sides with some 6 oz glass is fun and easy. It comes out really nice, takes a few coats of epoxy, I gave the bare wood a coat to seal in gasses and sanded, bed coat for the glass, then a few more coats to bury the glass and allow enough to sand smooth. I used the west system epoxy, 105 resin/207 special clear hardener, the west roller covers cut in half and some plastic tray liners. When the epoxy starts to kick, trim it off with a razor blade.

Permalink Reply by tungsten on December 21, 2015 at 6:55am

Poly resin (gel coat) wont stick very well to the epoxy or plywood.

Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on December 21, 2015 at 3:53pm

I should have said too alot of people like to use a squeegee, I liked the rollers for the sides. For the thick stuff on the bottom a squeegee is probably the way to go. I used the roller, it wet out ok but it took a bunch of coats to cover that heavy matt and I just used 12 oz biax. Theres also a science to it regarding temperatures. Like above 65 degrees and applying it as the temp cools rather than warming up...The temp of the wood, humidity ect. if your going for a transparent look.

Permalink Reply by David Witton on December 22, 2015 at 5:46am

A guy I respect told me that the glass to resin ratio was 1:1 - that is, if your cloth weighs 24 oz/yd, you'll use 24 oz of resin/yd to wet it out. 

I poured a puddle of resin in the center, worked it into the cloth with a plastic spreader and finished with a foam roller. 

Permalink Reply by tungsten on December 22, 2015 at 8:51am

Don't forget the all important bubble buster aluminum roller on heavier glass,really helps to get rid of all the air in the resin and whats trapped in the glass.

Permalink Reply by Rick Finnell on December 22, 2015 at 10:54am

Permalink Reply by David Witton on December 23, 2015 at 5:15am

Wow - cool tool! Where did you get that? Is it designed to roll out glass, or does it have another use?

Permalink Reply by Rick Finnell on December 23, 2015 at 5:57am
Permalink Reply by tungsten on December 23, 2015 at 7:03am

Works really well when layin multiple layers of glass or on inside seams.Also when using peelply.

Don't let the goo harden on though,takes a torch to clean it then.

Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on December 23, 2015 at 8:07am

I forgot about that technique. Now I can clean mine!

Rick N

Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on December 23, 2015 at 2:56pm

Ohhh, you guys were holding out on me with this one. I would have bought one of those for the bottom glass, although I only had a few bubbles, and the bottom didnt matter, I just knocked them down. Didnt need that for the sides, they came out perfect.

Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on December 23, 2015 at 5:02pm
We can't let you know all our secrets on your first build.

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