Hey Skools, I got a glassing question for ya!

[frayed_knot]

Checkout my repair thread yet? If not, do so.

Anyway, the question is...I'm almost ready to attach the wood to the cover, can I just use the resin hardened as is or should I consider a filler? If so, then what kind? I'm gonna mix it thin so I have enough time to coat both the cover and the wood. Should I consider a coat of unhardened resin on the wood first, maybe to promote some absorbtion into the wood? I believe you told me that this resin could not be thinned, is that right? The more I get into this, the more questions I come up with ;D

Thanks for all your help so far!!!!

[Skools Out]

just mix the resin with very little hardner and coat both surfaces then lay on wood and lots of weight to hold down really well. i layed 4 wheels and tires off the tahoe on mine for a week to ensure it was well cured and applied. no can't thin that resin.

[reelapeelin]

Skools...anything he can do to make sure no air-pockets remain between wood and glass??...

[Skools Out]

lol a steam roller lol or lots of weight on the wood with lid laying on a hard flat surface.

[frayed_knot]

There were lots of areas that were not bonded to anything at all, like air pockets. I want to eliminate that so I will likely lay it on pretty thick in the center, and a little less so on the edges and let it ooze out the edges. Hopefully that will fill in the voids. I'm not worried about water intrusion at this point, just a real good bond. I don't want to ever have to post this repair again on this boat. It should be good for another 30 years, heck 50 is more likely.

[frayed_knot]

I need to come up with some weight. Maybe a whole bunch of 1 Gal water jugs, 8 pounds a piece. I have a few coolers lying around, I could just fill them up with water. That should do it. ;)

If you get it to flat it will always hold water, I put resin on the board and the hatch, put them together then laid my matting, before it kicked I laid the whole thing down(with the board side up) on the concrete and put 1/4 inch shims between the ground and the edge of the cover, then put wax paper on top of the wet glass and laid a tire and wheel in the middle. The end result is that the cover is about 1/4 inch high in the middle so it doesent hold any water when I wash the boat off. also being a little concave makes it stronger.

[Franco]

I would cut kerfs in both directions of one face of the plywood about 3/4's of the way thru. So it looks like a checkerboard. *That cover has a curve to it, that is one reason they used those squares of ply wood, so it would conform to the curve. The kerfs allow the plywood to flex so it fits the cover. I also cut the holes for the deck plates first. Then I wet the glass, laid`down a layer of cloth, wet it out, and wet out the plywood and laid it over the glass. I used concrete paver stones fo weight, I put the weight in the middle, between the deck plate holes. I then trimmed the cloth from the holes , I cut it like a pie and wrapped the edge of the plywood. I added weight from the center out, let it sit overnight, I mixed resin with microspheres as a filler, about like mayonaise, and filled in the kerfs, and finished off with cloth and resin,

[frayed_knot]

Great ideas on getting a little convex shape to it. However, I don't care too much about that, seems like it would tend to trip me up. The rest of the deck is flat and I always park it stern down so holding water isn't such a big deal for me. I do appreciate the input fellas :D I like the idea of putting some glass between the layers though. I may contemplate that one.

[Franco]

Run a`straight edge along the deck, I bet you hammers V20 sweatshirt it aint "flat"