1988 Enticer restoration. Advice welcomed.

[mateman]

Looking good Scott. Seems to be coming aloing nicely.

 

[Rob B]

Yeah, I have a bunch more sanding to do and I'm going to scrub everything clean and rinse it out. I started sanding that away and then thought I might need it for some sort of reference when measuring for the new stringer and floor. It got to 80 degrees outside last week and i decided to do some wood work and give the Tyvek suit and fiberglass a rest for a couple days. I hate the cold but it is nice for sanding fiberglass because I can wear layers of clothes. Scott

That's why I always do the resto's in the winter, what little we do have down south!!!! Hopefully OG will be along shortly to answer your question in the above post.

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Very good question. I am not sure yet. I was thinking about glueing or somehow securing all the pieces together how I want them, marking the hull where the wood sits, then removing the piece and doing most of the glass work outside of the boat. Putting the adhesive/fillet resin mix on the hull where I marked previously, then sitting the new piece on to the hull and squeezing out the adhesive mix from any voids. Fillet the corners next and then glass to the hull. Does that make any sense? As far as Cabosil goes. I don't have any. I picked up a product locally at West Marine. It is part of their epoxy system but they told me it works well mixed with polyester resin as well. Any experience with this stuff?

$25 for this container. I haven't opened it yet and saved the reciept so if it's not going to work I can return it. They don't stock Cabosil but if it is far superior or cheaper than this stuff I will order it. Hell, this might be the same stuff with their label on it, who knows. Anybody? Thanks, Scott

Lawson i will send you a P.M .

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Lawson http://www.uscomposites.com/fillers.html and if i was you i would just go with a 10 lb bag of Cabosil for the price .

 

[Lawson'sLanding]

Well after reading OG's PM and the links posted, I realized that Cabosil is cheaper than the stuff I bought from West Marine. I ordered 10lbs of Cabosil for $67 versus $28 for 5.5oz of the other. That is assuming that the rates are similair for a similair consistency. I also ordered 3 more gallons of resin from Merton's. I used a table router to round over all edges that I will be wrapping with fiberglass. I bought some 40 grit 6" hook and loop sanding disk today for my sander/polisher and went back to sanding the hull. I hauled off a load of carpet, wood, and trash, to start making room for a work area to glass my subfloor. My stringer is a little warped so I plan to glass it first on a flat surface to straighten it out. I have never glassed anything before so I am anxious to get started. My questions to you all are...

1) What should Use to work on that the resin and glass won't stick to?
wax paper or ?

2) The stringer is 2 pieces. Do I attach them any particular way or just use glass and resin?

3) Is it ok to use several small pieces to wrap the stringer or do I need to unroll my whole roll of glass and cut one long piece from the side of the roll?

4) Do I need to order one of those rollers before I start or can I use a brush/foam brush/plastic spreader to wet the glass and lay it?

Advice appreciated. Scott

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Scott , last question first and yes in my opinion i would order a Bodie Aluminum laminating roller 3/8 x3 and maybe a 5 inch also..... if you like .......considering i just about do everything in 3 inch for rolling out the air in fabric, and these rollers are made with thin fins and deep grooves that will provide great air release . and next i would consider buying a 3" paint roller with covers , buckets , paint stir /sticks , power drill paint mixer bit , Poly sheeting , 3-m masking film ,or anything plastic because resin will not stick to it ........and hopefully we are are on the same page on this issue .............

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Scott , i hope you will decide to do your stringers using one continous layer of fabric fully encapsulating the entire stringer...... going with mutiple layers of fabric or at least two and do you have a good set of Shears ?

 

[Rob B]

OG would you butt the two pieces together or scarf the joint? I guess that's the term for joining two pieces together. I agree with OG encapsulate as one piece if possible. Good stuff OG!!!

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

OG would you butt the two pieces together or scarf the joint? I guess that's the term for joining two pieces together. I agree with OG encapsulate as one piece if possible. Good stuff OG!!!

Robbie , i always go with a scarf joint unless it is dead nuts against the Transom if you know what i mean , and did you change your pic in your Aviator today... Gotta get back to work and make hay while i can .

 

[Rob B]

Robbie , i always go with a scarf joint unless it is dead nuts against the Transom if you know what i mean , and did you change your pic in your Aviator today... Gotta get back to work and make hay while i can .[/QUOTE

I changed the picture about 30 mins ago for a reminder of how much I need to do! For the visual guys, hope this is what he means when scarfing the joint.

 

[Lawson'sLanding]

Poly sheeting , 3-m masking film ,or anything plastic because resin will not stick to it ........and hopefully we are are on the same page on this issue .............

OK you lost me a little bit here.

 

[Rob B]

Poly sheeting , 3-m masking film ,or anything plastic because resin will not stick to it ........and hopefully we are are on the same page on this issue .............

OK you lost me a little bit here.

You can get the 3M masking film from Lowes in the painting dept.

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Lawson , is this for a layup taple , and one thing i forgot to mention is ................Card board works rather well also and can be used permantely as long as it is prepped prior to doing your wet out or sanded and if you would like to talk about a few things over the phone i would be more then happy to give you a call ..................and if so shoot me a P.M.

 

[Rob B]

OG based on his questions in post #65 I think he got confused. But I would assume he's talking about the layout table and what will not stick to the resin. Which you answered earlier in post #66: Poly sheeting , 3-m masking film ,or anything plastic because resin will not stick to it .

 

[Lawson'sLanding]

I glassed the stringer tonight. It's not 100% perfect but pretty close for my first attemp at fiberglass. I had trouble towards the very tip where it is pointed. I can cut it off or reglass just the tip. Pics tommorow. Thanks to OG and everyone else for their input.

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Scott , could you post a pic of the tip before cutting it off which most likely will not be necessary .

 

[Lawson'sLanding]

Sorry for the delay of the pics. I glassed the stringer and each piece of the subfloor seperately. I trimmed the overhanging glass tonight with a grinder and cut-off wheel. I had notched all the wood so it would interlock somewhat when it goes back together but miscalculated the extra thickness the glass and resin would ad. I had to go back with a grinder and enlarge all of my notches. There is a couple air pockets here and there that I will address but I am not going to redo anything. Mostly on the edges where the excess glass wanted to curl and I think I can still get resin in those voids. Biggest screw up was the point of the stringer like I said earlier. Well, here are the pics.

I think I am just going to cut the bad glass off and try and reglass the tip or cover it with resin or even cut it off. Opinions? If I remember right,the factory stringer did not go to a sharp point, and the void was filled with some sort of filler/plastic.
Thanks to Og for the PM about Caob-Sil and the links to suppliers.
I ordered 10lbs of Cabo-Sil for $65 from US Composites and am going to return 5.5oz of a West Marine product that cost me $26.

My glass work is far from perfect but I think it turned out decent for my first time. My biggest concern is making this wood waterproof or close to it. The boat will be stored inside when not in the water. Should I coat everything with something just in case? My next step is cutting out the pieces for the floor. My question is... Should I glass both sides of the floor or just resin on the bottom and glass on the top? As far as resin goes, if I want to thin some, can I use lacquer thinner?

Thanks for any input. Scott

 

[Rob B]

You're doing great!!! You want to wrap/encapsulate the floor or both sides. If you just add a coat of resin to the underside it would crack once you walk across the floor from flexing. You can sand the end area and wrap it with cloth and resin. You're trying to get the wood as water proof as possible.

 

[Lawson'sLanding]

Pictures did not turn out so good. I can take more tommorow. Scott

 

[Rob B]

Take a picture looking down and from the side of the stringer. That end can be repaired.