Fibreglassing onto Plywood - Creating a watertight wheelhouse on a shoe string budget 

Same here. I’ve done industrial fiberglass fabrication of piping many years ago. That was hot (I did it during the summer months). Any work being done, when viewed against sunlight, exposes all the tiny strands floating and flickering in the air. It does get in your lungs if PPE is not worn. It will cause you to cough for hours. It’s best to wear a painters sock over your head to prevent the floating strands from getting into your hair and onto your skin. Fiberglass is considered the next asbestos, being worse than it. Aside from all that, it’s an ok material for the boating industry.

Maybe if working next to nuclear power house it will kill all the free fiberglass shells before entering the skin? The disadvantage to doing so is obeying the building object becaming out disformed maybe?

Thank you for adding this comment. excellent advice!

R K I the

Absolutely right clear laminates do show up them pesky air pockets a lot easier.

Very true and very itchy business if you don't have overalls on 🙂

@@ecfibreglassuk, if one doesn’t have a painters sock as well as eye protection, the hair and eyes will get the glass fibers in them as well. I’ve done industrial piping flange construction for a few months in the summertime, that’s how I know. Btw, bondstrand piping is much worse to work with. This was around 1982ish.

Yes that is correct and we would never advise creasing glass when moulding or if strength is required. However this demo is for waterproofing not strength. The strength we need is already in the plywood. but thanks for your feedback.

+Shawn McWhorter Let us know how it turns out :)

Thankyou :-)

Hi Eric, we try to keep our videos to one job at a time, otherwise they'd end up being 4 hours long while we debated the pros and cons of different systems! This one is exclusively GRP layup, but I think we have some epoxy videos in the works so you should be seeing those up within the next few months

No problem 👍

Hi Sorry for the late reply. they are often bonded using a bonding paste such as free fix or in some cases a thickened epoxy. then they are fibreglassed into place around teh bottom edge with more fibreglass and resin.

Either would work, but what we tend to do is make sure there's enough material left at the edges to let you trim back, then sand off any rough edges left

Hi, we can only advise on applications directly to good quality marine ply

David the way to avoid that is to use hand torn pieces of fibreglass rather than a piece cut with a blade.

I'm afraid we don't have any experience with Glassonite so are unable to advise

You will have some texture on the surface from application, it needs to be polished back slightly

+Walkertongdee t's just a quick rub off m8...that won't do any harm to the wood glue bond....lol

+Walkertongdee The amount he used would flash off before it penetrated that deep.

+Alex Bond Thats what I thought but the plywood I used had a micro thin veneer not good..

+Walkertongdee Thats what I thought but the plywood I used had a micro thin veneer not good..

As long as the application is within 12 hours of the resin/gelcoat curing, it's still fresh enough to achieve a good chemical bond

Hi, you'd have to grind off the textured stuff or grind off most of it and fair it off before applying a fibreglass skin over the top

The fibreglass would likely crack, or not bond very well to the aluminium

Most of the structure had been done earlier with larger mixes and metal spreading knives. we left only one screw hole and mixed only a tiny amount for the benefit of demonstrating. The main subject of the video is fibreglassing onto plywood rather than how to mix bondo which I'm sure most users know how to do? if they don't know how to mix body filler I'd say put down the fibreglass and resin and walk away 😀.

We don't recommend these products for use indoors etc

Hi, unfortunately we do not carry out manufacturing or GRP work ourselves, we only supply the materials. I can’t remember the exact size of this project? but I think it was between 2.5 or 3 sqr mtrs of materials needed. So, if we were to price up the materials costs today based on 3 sqr mtr and the same materials used, it would come to £218.26 which includes the current 20% UK VAT and delivery. Below is a break down in required materials and individual costs, also below are the links to these materials (prices correct as of 13.11.23) : - A GRP medium tool pack which includes: 3 x 1 L Acetone 3 x 10L Buckets 2 x 5L Buckets 2 x 3" Brushes 1 x 6" Paddle Roller 1 x 6" Nylon Roller 1 x Refill 1 x Catalyst Dispenser 2 x large Turbomix Mixing sticks current Price £37.64 +vat. 2kg pack 450g chopped strand matting current price £10.80+vat. 3 mtr surface tissue current price £5.25+vat Approximately 7.5kg of Lloyds approved white resin to wet out the above and allow for any wastage. 5kg plus a 2.5kg tin current price works out at £58.90 +vat. 2.5kg 65pa white 337 gelcoat -current price £19.95+vat 2x 1kg white 337 flowcoat (request extra wax to be added if rolling on and ensure good working temperature-controlled conditions of around 15-18degC) current price - 23.90+vat. 1kg 491pa resin (we can thin this down for you upon request for priming) current price 14.95+vat. 1kg EC42 filler current price £9.95+vat Standard UK mainland delivery (some restrictions apply due to hazardous material see our online shipping terms) £10.50. Subtotal £191.84 …. Total price including 20% UK VAT £230.20 Links to materials: - www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/grp-tool-pack-1-medium www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/450g-15-oz-chopped-strand-matting-965mm-wide www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/surface-tissue www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/lloyd's-approved-polyester-resin-white-inc-catalyst-crystic-2-446pa www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/scott-bader-white-337-polyester-gelcoat www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/white-337-scott-bader-polyester-flowcoat www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/crystic-491-pa-resin-including-catalyst www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/ec42-easy-sand-filler

The gelcoat and flowcoat are designed to be applied by brush, you don't get good coverage with a roller

Hi 1 layer and a tissue only i believe, and 1 gelcoat before Flowcoat too, hope this helps, best rgds

the stig mach 1 Hi you would need a layer of chopped strand glass down first to enable a proper bond to the material, hope this helps

Number

Hi the white resin is polyester resin used in laminating, the latter is a Gelcoat, ie thicker resin with wax in , hope this helps,

Cure times depend on temperature etc. You want the prime coat to have tacked off

@@ecfibreglassuk thank you for the reply, sorry what do you mean by tacked off (my first time Fibreglassing). As in semi dry and tacky?

@@djbanger Yes

@@ecfibreglassuk thanks just received my order today🤞🏾👍🏽👍🏽

Styrene thins the resin so it can be used as a primecoat to prepare the plywood so the fibreglass will bond

Pierre Mitham iTS just cladding.. no strength needed.. it for the weather proofing ...

You could seal the wood with epoxy resin if you wanted to save steps but if it's scratched or damaged on the surface, moisture may get into the wood and damage it over time. This way there's more of a protective shell on the wood, and damage is easy to spot and repair.

I see , but the reason behind the fiberglass is to reduce weight , so making a template will be more usefull, like the hood of my truck , it came from factory in 3 pieces and glued together , that's a good job there, but ey, is fine I just wanted to know why you where doinging in that way,thanks and good job anyway

@@desvariosdeuncamionero8856 Hi, sometimes using fibreglass is to reduce weight. Sometimes (in this case) it's a cheap and effective way to replace the wheelhouse on your boat if it's damaged/aged badly

We can't ship to the US unfortunately.

Tea

untamedlion33 if it this is the best video you've seen you haven't watched very many

Hi, you can sand both, depends on what kind of finish you want

We only recommend using the tools we've used here - tried and tested

@@ecfibreglassuk well you did use a roller are the large area. What type of roller was it?

The flowcoat is applied with a brush ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TzkWeuC0yPs.html The white resin is applied with a 100mm nylon roller ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TzkWeuC0yPs.html

Hello, please visit our website and give us a call for technical advice.

I typically don't offer advice, but you might want to consider the incredible amount of labor involved, plus cost of materials and a significant amount of added weight. if the hole is in good shape I would just consider a barrier coat and a good anti-fouling paint on the bottom. For above the waterline, I've always had excellent results with interlux brightside rolled on with a fine nap roller and tipped with a brush. I have seen a few clients Hull boats that were last over and I'm also familiar with the Ackerman Newporter 40, which were fiberglass over plywood construction.I have yet to see one that didn't delaminate and rot underneath. those are just a few of the things that I would consider in a situation such as yours. Cheers.

Oh brother. I really should proofread, so I can go back and correct the autocorrect.

oops! sorry for the very late reply :-( we used 450g chopped strand matting.

That's a good point raised. Epoxy is the best choice but not in everyone's budget and we have quite a few customers alergic to the amines. However it can be done with polyester but alot of users miss out that very important tie coat of thinned down isophthalic resin which if not applied causes bonding issues. boats were sheathed for many years with polyester before epoxies came along however if we were doing this without a budget it would definitely be done in epoxy.

@@ecfibreglassuk I’m building a 10m boat using Dave Gerr scantling. I ended up going with polyester over pine. I made 3 sample tests of 12000g cloth on plywood. Sample 1 control group epoxy. Sample 2 polyester with primer coat over polyester reduced with acetone 30% and 3% cobalt inhibitor. Sample 3 polyester with 30% styrene reduced primer and cobalt. Both sample 2 and 3 adhesive to ply on a tear test were identical. 1/2 the surface tore the laminate off the marine ply. So it’s effectively bond as strong as the ply laminate which is a pass in my opinion. Epoxy tore nearly all the 1st laminate of ply off making it stronger than the ply bond. Basically weakest link is the ply.

When wet. But you can do it later too. However should do it at the same time with ghe chopmat as it soaks up exess resin.

They're liferaft moulds for RFD Beaufort

Poor man's fiberglass video and you're all set, glue and paint.

The flowcoat goes on much better with a brush, a roller would leave too many undersaturated areas and doesn't give good coverage. Because the flowcoat has a wax additive, you only get one chance at it.

lachlan fisher around £75.00 i estimate rgds

Not too bad, thanks.

In our experience, peel ply will leave a textured finish, which is great for epoxy and multiple layers

Hi, we can't recommend any of our products for use on non-standard materials. You would need to do your own testing etc

Hi, we wiped the marine ply down with acetone and used a primecoat first

HI Thank you for your comments, yes you are quite right if a customer was paying for this we would recommend a moulded part or to sheath it with fibreglass cloth such as biaxle or plain weave and epoxy resin and then finish with multiple coats of epoxy and a marine paint for best results. However not everyone has the budget for these more expensive materials and processes. Due to many requests on how to use cheaper chopped strands and polyester resins to sheath low value boats we decided to make this video. A lot of the guys around our local mariners have at hand a supply of polyester and chopped strand matting , which if you look closely we are using chopped strand matting here and not ‘cloth’ in this application. Chopped strand and polyester is cheaper and within some peoples budget although it does not leave the best finish. We could have went further and used fillers to skim the area but this is not advised as too much thickness of filler or gelcoat/flowcoat can cause hairline cracking once the timber expands and contracts. So now when our customers ask us how to get a secure bond onto plywood with polyester or how to sheath with chopped strand matting we can point them to this video. Many thanks

The resin and hardener will bind any material that broke and like you wrote multiple layers will correct any strength issues

edstimator. If you don't know the difference between cloth and csm maybe you're not qualified to comment.

@@mikemckelvey7144 Ok, never make a sharp fold or crease in chopped mat or cloth. He could have been a little more gentle. His radius was a little too small.

Hi, we can't ship outside of the UK

tomptrson no it won’t cause the wood has to be dry

A beautiful cut fade into...something? I'm not sure to be honest, it's been a while since we uploaded this video

You're not the boss of us! If we want to use ounces, pints, meters and CC, nobody can stop us

It's a boiler suit so the resin doesn't get all over your clothes :)

Occupational exposure to styrene may cause infertility, congenital anomalies or death in offspring, Styrene is nasty stuff!

We have a little room off our factory for sanding, it's an absolute mess. We try not to show the less glamorous side of GRP work

Horses for courses. On a pleasure boat you can keep covered away from UV light I would agree. But for a boat left outside, only used for fishing or work and exposed to UV light, the polyester lasts 50 years plus and does not degrade like epoxy. Polyester resin is not as waterproof as epoxy but flowcoat is. You could paint the epoxy with UV paint but it would not be as durable as the flowcoat. As others have said they both have their uses.

Blair Wise . Ive worked with epoxy and polyester resins for 20 years. Both systems work very well in what they are designed for.

Thank you for your feedback, unfortunately we do work in a factory environment, the project was on a deadline and we don't have the luxury of a quiet studio.

We would advise a GRP moulded wheelhouse for best cosmetics and design. A customer brought the ready made plywood construction to us, as he didn't have the confidence to carry out the work himself, we just offered to glass it for him so we could make this tutorial. Some people will do it this way if they are working on a Low budget or do not have the knowledge moulding with GRP materials.

Hi, factory finish comes with much higher costs, etc. We did this video as a cheap, easy and effective way to fibreglass an older boat to give it a bit of new life.

It's a coat of 491 primer to seal the wood first

From the looks of it, you just painted the sealer over the wood and it prob never had a chance to soak in to the core...

The video is cut to speed up the process. The 491 had plenty of time to work.

cool as

How did it work out for you ? I'm planning on doing the same type of project.

I ended up coating the outside in a product called gaco roof deck you can see some of my camper Builds on my RU-vid channel. Sorry I started the RU-vid channel after I built the camper

Quite right! In a non ventilated area we would always advise a vapour mask. when ever i'm doing larger project for example inside a boat hull where styrene builds up I always wear a mask. luckily we have a beast of an extraction system and what isn't sown in the video is our huge double doors open behind the camera man. I'm glad you pointed this out though as I'll make a point in mentioning this in further videos. Our Lloyds approved resin also has low styrene emissions. styrene levels are always monitored in our facility and kept to a safe level.

+Andrew Banner Its the roof of a boat noone is going to see it. Waste of time/money