Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Re: Strip: Glassing Recess
By:Rob Macks
Date: 2/28/2002, 2:52 pm
In Response To: Re: Strip: Glassing Recess (Richard Kohlstrom)

: I did the recess-glassing with two pieces and it turned up fine. If you
: orient the bias-cut glass right you can model it to very strange curves
: and with the help of a hair-drier it can be even more plastic.
: /Richard

I agree. You can do it this way.

I use one piece of glass over the whole deck and the recessed area.

Stroke the glass on the bias to make it conform to the recessed area.

The difficult area is not the joint on the main deck with the vertical
drop. You should round this edge as much as possible to allow the glass
to round the shape curve without lifting.If this curve is too sharp the glass
will lift which will leave air bubbles. If you end up with air bubbles you
can fix it by sanding out the bubbles and adding a new strip of bias glass.
Tape clear plastic kitchen wrap over the wet glass to force it to conform
to the curve. Later, make a fillet on the inside of the joint under the deck
which will strengthen even a very thin wood joint.

The joint of the vertical drop with the deck recess can be more difficult, because it is a
concave joint. I make a fillet to round this joint, allowing the glass to conform
to the curve without forming air bubbles. Since this will be visible, it is important
to make a neat clean fillet. You can do this easily by masking off either side of the fillet with masking tape. I apply the epoxy, mixed with wood dust to match the deck color, with a piece of plastic cut from the corner of a milk bottle. This makes a great fillet tool. Once the fillet reaches a slightly hard stage pull off the masking tape, angling the tape /fillet edge in toward the fillet for a clean edge break. Then rub some unthickened epoxy into the still soft fillet with the finger of a rubber glove, to make a smooth fillet with a smooth transition into the deck.

Have fun!

All the best,

Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.LaughingLoon.com

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Glassing Recess
Alex Warren -- 2/27/2002, 9:49 am
Re: Strip: Glassing Recess
Richard Kohlstrom -- 2/28/2002, 10:13 am
Re: Strip: Glassing Recess
Rob Macks -- 2/28/2002, 2:52 pm
Re: Strip: Glassing Recess
Joe -- 2/27/2002, 11:21 am
Re: Strip: Glassing Recess
Alex Warren -- 2/28/2002, 7:49 am
Re: Strip: Glassing Recess
Joe -- 2/28/2002, 12:40 pm
Re: Strip: Glassing Recess
Joe -- 2/27/2002, 11:33 am