Fiberglass cloth for transom

[nymack66]

Call these Guys they will answer any questions you have , My supply shop :)

Crap I miss the link here it is sorry
http://www.fiberglassservices.com/catalog.htm

[BenFishin]

You will want to use a biaxial fabric either 1208 or 1708 is up to you.

1208 is 12oz cloth with .75 oz mat intergrated into it. you want to get the cloth that is woven at 45 degrees not 0/90 degrees. the 90 is fine but if you want the strongest 45 is the best bet

1708 is exactly the same thing but 18oz instead of 12oz.

I have 3 layers of 1208 on my transom.

[RidgeRunner]

Originally Posted by BenFishin

You will want to use a biaxial fabric either 1208 or 1708 is up to you.

1208 is 12oz cloth with .75 oz mat intergrated into it. you want to get the cloth that is woven at 45 degrees not 0/90 degrees. the 90 is fine but if you want the strongest 45 is the best bet

1708 is exactly the same thing but 18oz instead of 12oz.

I have 3 layers of 1208 on my transom.

Do these numbers represent what West Marine sells or is this a standard in the industry? Vinylester resin or epoxy? Three layers wet out equals what thickness?

[BenFishin]

Its a standard in the industry. I used epoxy resin by West system. Its expensive but by far the best to use. I am not sure how thick my three layers are due to the way i layed my transom in. I thickend some west with 403 and spread it all over the existing skin, then i layed in my first layer of wood which was coated with 3 coats of west. I threw bolted it in 30 places with threaded rod to make sure there were no places it didnt get pulled tight. once it hardened i removed the bolts, scuffed it up and layed one layer of 1208 cloth. when it started to kick off i put another coat of epoxy on the cloth and then through bolted the next layer of wood and let it dry. Then removed the bolts filled the holes with dowel rods soaked in west. then put two layers of the 1208 cloth on top. If i had to guess the 1208 is about 1/8th thick for 2 layers. The reason i used the lighter cloth is it is a lot easier and a more efficient way of encapsulating the wood as air pockets and areas that wont wet out are easily rolled out with a fiberglass roller. It is imperitive you get a fiberglass roller by the way

[RidgeRunner]

Thanks, It has been a while since my glass project. I couldn't agree more,
bubble buster rollers are a must. I also liked to use the 7" x 3/8" pile rollers to put the resin on out of the reuseable plastic pales. You can cover a lot of ground quick with minor cleanup to the roller frame and the resin can be popped out of the pale after it kicks.
I have been told, Epoxy resin is great to use over vinylester or polyester resin but you can't use poly or vinyl resins over the top of epoxy as it won't bond. Is this true and what limitations does epoxy have with respect to your topcoat?
(ie can you put gelcoat over epoxy or must you use a urethane?)

[BenFishin]

That is true. epoxy is fine over vinylester and poly. but not the other way around. You cannot use gelcoat over epoxy either. that is why you see your high end yachts using epoxy paint/two part urethanes as their topcoat. i personally think it is a lot better. and theres a reason why hatteras yachts/and paul mann yachts uses epoxy. They aint cheap either.

[Skools Out]

Originally Posted by BenFishin

\\ and theres a reason why hatteras yachts/and paul mann yachts uses epoxy. They aint cheap either.

There's a nice 2008 Paul Mann sitting in 200 ft of water off Beaufort Inlet due to an epoxy issue, epoxy tends to crack when under a lot stess and you never see the high end race boats built with it due to stress cracking and weight.