Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
How much fiberglass on the bottom of a decked 16X48
Hello.
I am working on my floor and applied 18.5 triaxial on the inside floor and filled the weave and 2 layers of 6 oz and 3 coats of epoxy to fill the weave on the outside....
My questions are :
Do you think this is enough glass for the floor?
If I do a few coats of graphite and epoxy to the outer floor will epoxy stick to the graphite layers in case a repair is needed?
thanks, John
Views: 690
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by tungsten on
-
Do you mean 18 oz on outside and 2- 6oz on inside?If not then i would hold off on the graphite.2 -6oz would be minimum on a fishin boat a white water boat may need more.The triax u put on the inside would have a been a good choice on the out side also.
-
Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on
-
I have to agree with Tungsten final comment that 18 oz Triax on both surfaces is ideal in a boat subject to impacts and requiring abrasion resistance. I agree on both a mechanical/scientific basis and an experience based manner. With recent water conditions in our area I have not been able to avoid all conflicts with rocks, some on my chines but others on the bottom itself. I have been reconditioning parts of my boat and have discovered numerous scratches and a two inch long divot one of of the edges of might boat. The chine cap also had some damage but triaxial fabric and plywood suffered the most. Epoxy repaired the issue. My point is with the severity of hits my boat has suffered the layup that I built has withstood hard impacts without need for repair. I have and will continue to recommend the layup schedule that Tungsten has suggested.
I would rather ride up and over a rock than it it with the chine cap and the corresponding edge of the plywood edge. There is virtually no protection other than a sacrificial strip rather than a load bearing and load sharing structure that the above layup builds.
As far as adding more epoxy to epoxy graphite it only requires abrading the existing epoxy to provide enough "tooth" for the new layer of epoxy to mechanically bond. You can review previous bottom rebuilds here on the site.
Good luck with your build. PS we love pictures! If you would like some help with posting them let me or others know.
Rick Newman
-
Permalink Reply by John Squire on
-
Thanks, Thanks for the feed back.
I planned to put 18.5 triax on both sides of the floor , glassed the inside floor and built the bulk heads up...then flipped it over and realized I didn't have enough 18.5 to do the whole bottom so I put 2-6 oz layers on the bottom.
I wanted to fortify the bottom and seal the bare wood so I can put the boat in the water and find and mark where it is level in the water.... so I can find the correct grade and slope the decking to drain to the footwells . After the glass cures I will flip it over and go back to working on the inside hull and decking. I plan to do a 6 oz layer of glass on both inside and outside of the hull too. I still need to sand the outside hull to bare wood, coat it with epoxy and 6 oz glass and at that time I will add a layer of 6 oz-10 oz glass on the bottom....
Thanks again, John
-
-
-
Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on
-
I was thinking the same thing, using the heavy stuff on the outside, but water under the bridge now. The graphite will really help in the end too though. I used 12 oz biax on my bottom, but here in Mich I mostly hit tree stumps, a big rock now and then, and lots of gravel so far. No big white water/rock action. I really think the graphite has helped
-
-
I'm going to put 10 oz biax and graphite on the outside bottom. I read a few posts that said the fiberglass would be stronger on the inside of the floor, it certainly made it stouter.
I run trips in the Southwest... Animas, Dolores, Green, Colorado, Rio Grande, Salt and San Juan Rivers. There are lots of rocks and even more at low water... lol
My plan is to build and waterproof the compartments, deck it, encapsulate it, drain it, varnish exposed wood and row it down Grand Canyon in May.... I have a lot of work to do.
but its coming along and a lot of fun.....
-
-
E glass is really good in tension,take a piece of ply wood put glass on one side then support between two bricks and stand on it,with the glass on the bottom side it will be noticeably stiffer then if the glass was on the top side.
So a boat that may hit a rock at 8 mph can really benefit from having thick glass on the inside.
Only thing graphite does is make the epoxy black,it does not add any strength.wood flour mixed with epoxy has better abrasion resistance.Not by much but it is harder to sand.
-
-
And I thought the graphite added a little abrasion resistance, baaa. I do like that its black :)
-
-
I thought it made the epoxy slicker but at least it adds UV protection too.
-
-
Yes it can make it slicker,but you'd need a computer to measure the difference between a nice flat epoxy job.If drift boats went 40mph there'd be more benefit.
No UV protection either, it will chalk over time if the sun hits it.
Theres claims of aluminum powder giving some UV but again very minimal and will probably still chalk over time.
I remember testing a few different fillers for abrasion the ones that the resin was able to soak into did the best.wood flour,chopped glass etc.
West makes a high density filler 40... something cant remember but really hard to sand.
-
-
I thought graphite may have had more positive quality's than just being black....
What do you use for a UV protective coating on the bottom ?
-
-
-
hopefully the bottom wont see sun!!! I didnt worry about any uv on the bottom. If it chalks a little over a few years no problem. It will be ready for a touch up by then anyway.
-
© 2024 Created by Randy Dersham.
Powered by
