: Greetings: I am quickly approaching the day when I lay 'glass on the outside
: of my S&G hull. I have heard that some like to pre-coat the wood with
: epoxy and some don't. Based on my (first) experience with fiberglass on
: the inside, it seems like the base coat would make things a lot easier. My
: best results were when I slopped a little epoxy on the bare wood, laid the
: tape down on it, then proceeded to wet it out from there.

: I have been told that if I pre-coat the hull exterior, to allow the epoxy to
: cure, sand it smooth, then apply the cloth and goo. I wonder why not
: slather epoxy on the hull, lay the glass down on it before it cures, and
: then finish wetting it out in similar fashion?

: What do the experienced hands have to say about fiberglassing a plywood hull
: exterior? I am using RAKA epoxy and 5 oz cloth on a CLC Mill Creek 13
: built from plans.

: Cheers,

: Kurt Maurer
: League City, Texas

Hey Kurt,

You've got the right idea, but if you let the seal coat advance past the tacky stage it will be much easier to position the cloth over it. And, you'll still get the benefit of the chemical bond - as long as the previous coat is not fully cured. The seal coat should prevent the wood from sucking up the epoxy during the wet-out causing starved areas in the cloth. No sanding of the seal coat!!

I pre-cut all the cloth that I will be using in a particular glassing session and roll each layer up so when I roll it out on the boat, there's not much smoothing out to do.(ONE MAN OR WOMAN OPERATION - tho' a helper makes it nice when mixing epoxy) When I add extra layers of cloth to an area, I make sure I get it on within 20 - 24 hours of the previous layer to keep the chemical bond going.

Also keep in mind that its best to apply epoxy while the temperature is dropping so any air bubbles will contract instead of expanding. If you start during the warmest part of the day, this will take care of itself, unless you're one of the lucky builders who have a climate-controlled work area.

Happy Building.

Charles.

P.S.: The pic is a shot of my wife and daughter taken on the Silver River in Florida.