Need advice about glassing in floor/sole

[Kracker Jack]

What kind of cloth should I use on my v20 floor. Im replacing the whole floor with 3/4 plywood. 2 layers of 1708? 3 layers of 10 oz. cloth? any other ideas? Thanks guys

[RidgeRunner]

54 oz of fabric seems a little extreme. You do want it to float afterwards? That would be great for the hull. Just kidding around. With 3/4" plywood for the floor you really only need to encapsulate to make it water proof on the backside. The floor of my V was 1/2" squares of plywood glassed in place with a choppergun from the backside of the liner. The equivalent to 5 oz fabric at the most and saturated with resin. The plywood doesn't have to span very far from stringer to stringer and the floor will be attached at the sides. I would feel comfortable with 1.5 oz. CSM and 10 oz fabric on the bottom and one layer of 1708 oz on top. Stringers would get 2 layers of 1708. My .02.

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by RidgeRunner

54 oz of fabric seems a little extreme. You do want it to float afterwards? That would be great for the hull. Just kidding around. With 3/4" plywood for the floor you really only need to encapsulate to make it water proof on the backside. The floor of my V was 1/2" squares of plywood glassed in place with a choppergun from the backside of the liner. The equivalent to 5 oz fabric at the most and saturated with resin. The plywood doesn't have to span very far from stringer to stringer and the floor will be attached at the sides. I would feel comfortable with 1.5 oz. CSM and 10 oz fabric on the bottom and one layer of 1708 oz on top. Stringers would get 2 layers of 1708. My .02.

Having spent time on Ridge's V and walked all over it, stem to stern several times...I'd go w/that...

[RidgeRunner]

That is a smarter layup than my boat reel. All I used on the floor was 1/2" Coosa, 2 layers of 1.5oz CSM to glue the Coosa to the original glass (liner out of the boat and upside down on a jig) touch sanded then 24 oz woven roving into two layers of CSM. I wish I had used 1208 or 1708 back then. Simpler, cheaper and stronger because it requires a lot less resin. Mine is doing well but I readily admit the use of CSM leads to a resin rich (inferior) finished product

[Kracker Jack]

One more question for you guys. And I kinda know the answer, But can you tie new resin and cloth into roughed up gelcoat? some say no and some say yes you can.

[Curapa]

You want to grind down the gelcoat to get to the glass underneath. This does a couple of things. First, its a better surface for the resin to adhere to. Second, it creates a bevel so when the new glass is laid it is a similar height rather than having a hump that creates a ton of work in fairing.