JEM Watercraft

Got free early to day so i gave the boat a good scrubbing with acetone and the then laid some glass, Finally.


















I LIKE.

Nice.
A transformation indeed
Col

Darrells wrote:I LIKE.

Me three!

It looks like a large area for one person to wet out - did it take long?

Maybe an hour. Then a while longer to go back and keep running a brush over it until it was tacky.

I have always posted the good along with the bad. Well I have a problem, seems the first four feet or so of the fiberglass was contaminated or something. About every 12 inches or so i have a stripe that did not wet out properly. It is very uniform in the distance and shape of the area involved so it has to be a problem with the glass. I have been thinking about it and with no other option I started ripping off the effected area this morning with a heat gun and scraper will post pics later. Never had to patch an area, I guess we will see how it looks. If I don't like it I will strip the entire boat and start over.

Oh man such a good looking build to have that happen to.

Bad news Darrell. It's probably not much comfort but you're not the first to have this happen. I'm currently working on a project that doesn't belong here but my experience may help a tiny bit. My problem was buying a cheaper glass from an internet trader. All good on spec but stiffer than what I used before and just would not wet out properly - especially in stripes just as you described. I kept going back and looking at it for about 24 hours and eventually decided I couldn't live with it. Out came the heat gun and the whole lot came off!

A few tips from the experience:
- Be careful with the heat gun - you can scorch the timber easily with those things and also the glue holding the strips together can soften - you don't want strips springing. I didn't spring any strips but I think I came close 'cos I definitely scorched a few! (Be careful of yourself too - don't burn those fingers).

- I recommend trying without using a scraper first - I found that by heating narrow strips of cloth at a time then pulling it would peel off fairly cleanly. Still had to sand the surface and there were a couple of small areas to repair where splinters pulled out but generally it was quite good. I worry that a scraper will introduce scratches / gouges. Ultimately it's your call as you have a better idea of how well you can handle such tools but you might want to give my method a try before going in with the artillery . I estimate I had an area of about 3 square yards to do and it took less than 2 hours.

- I'm a bit unsure about this one but I seem to recall that in the ares wher I did pull some timber up it was where I was peeling along the grain. A lot of it was done from the edges working inward and was OK. Depending on your timber and other factors going across the grain may help.

Als, bear in mind that I used 3oz glass cloth - not 6 - and I am not sure if different weight will have any effect. It may be a bit more difficult to control the heat because 6oz will have more resin in it to heat up (?).

Pic below is about the worst area after stripping off the glass. It looks like the glass is still there but that's just the imprint of the weave in the remaining epoxy.



Lastly, this probably seems like a real disaster but really it's just a set back on the timeline. It's still going to be a great boat .

It's going pretty good. The fiberglass comes off pretty easy once heated up. I am taking my time and being careful with the wood underneath. Should have the rest off later today and the remaining epoxy sanded smoothe.



The rest of the boat looks great though.

dang Darrel... that sucks. But it looks like you're fixing it up.

When you got the cloth, did it come rolled up or folded?

It was rolled and wrapped in paper. I did not unpackage it until right before draping it on the boat. That's why I think it must have been defective in some way.