Jim,

It sounds like you are going to glass the deck before adding the vertical strips. That's the way to do it. I put on the vertical strips first and spent all day and into the evening glassing the deck because I had to fight the 3 coamings. I could only do little sections at a time and it didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked. It was a nightmare. Definately glass the deck, then put on the vertical strips.

Why are you so concerned about the chemical bond? The mechanical bond of it is plenty strong. Does the coaming need to be that strong? I would be more worried about the hull to deck seam being mechanically bonded, but I'm not. I don't know of anyone on the board that has done the hull-deck seam with a chemical bond on both the inside and outside and I would think that would be a lot more important. Just wondering.

Dale

: Hi Jim;

: I agree with the advice Russ passed along. There are 3 additional points I'll
: add - First, Dale built the combing first and then glassed the
: deck/combing afterward, and as I recall, he swore it off - Something about
: it being a nightmare . . . Perhaps he'll comment here. Secondly, the
: mechanical bond epoxy makes with itself is pretty darned strong, nothing
: to get concerned about. Think about epoxy repairs on fiberglass boats.

: Lastly, if you take only a few days to construct your coaming, you will
: probably still end up with mainly a chemical bond when you glass. I
: believe at least one epoxy mfr claims 72 hours or thereabouts.

: Best of Luck, Spidey