hull ext cloth 2' too short can I use 2 pieces?

Hi There,

 

I am working my way through a Chesapeake double kit and to my horror realised I have come up with about 2 feet too little 6oz cloth for the hull exterior. I plan to paint  the hull white when finished. My question is, would it be acceptable to have a secone small piece of cloth slightly overlapping the first say at the stern of the boat? If this would look really bad or have other negative implications I will just have to find a new piece of 6ox cloth 22 feet long instead of the current 18 I have. Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

Mike

 

Pic below hopefully shows the underlap.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22648621@N07/6145975878/

FG too short


5 replies:

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RE: hull ext cloth 2' too short can I use 2 pieces?

Yes, you can use 2 pieces. It is routinely done on boats that are wider than the available cloth width. Just overlap them an inch or two, and sand the bump flat after the epoxy has cured. You won't see it at all on the finished boat, and there will be no significant loss of strength either.

Grant

RE: hull ext cloth 2' too short can I use 2 pieces?

Great,

 

Thanks for the prompt reply, I appreciate the advice.

 

Mike

RE: hull ext cloth 2' too short can I use 2 pieces?

Yes, you can overlap FG cloth. If you put a strip of painter's tape under the end of the first piece of FG cloth, just short of the end, you can use a knife to trim the cloth using the tape for a guide after the epoxy is cured or semi-cured to give you a clean cut. You can sand the edge to feather it. Then apply painter's tape a few centimetres (perhaps 10-15 cm overlap) short of the end of the first piece of FG cloth) and lay the second piece of FG cloth in place. It should go past the painter's tape. Apply your epoxy (up to the middle of the tape) and then come back when it is nearly cured, and trim it with a sharp knife. Press hard enough to cut the top layer, but not so hard that you cut into the first layer of cloth.

Warren Messer from Red Barn Boats has a number of excellent videos on boat building. Look at 1:30 to 2:18 for applying the tape, and 8:00 to the end for trimming the edge. That's the first layer. Warren mentions fairing the edge, but I have just sanded at that stage. He has the second layer of cloth in place by the end of the next video. This one shows trimming the second layer of cloth at about 7:45. If you wait until the epoxy is fully cured, it is much more difficult to trim the edge. After you have done it a few times, it's easier to judge when to do the trmming. Warren says "after a couple of cups of coffee". I usually wait a few hours.

After trimming, and after the eposy has cured, you can  carefully feather the edge. If you will be painting, it's easy to use fairing compound on the efge of the cloth so the overlap will be invisible. If you will be using varnish, use epoxy to "fair" the edge.

same as above llinks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aexxZdv780o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FahQL-uXAtU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bMoWXIdss4

Keith - still nearly finished the first boat!

RE: hull ext cloth 2' too short can I use 2 pieces?

You can even (mostly) skip the knife if you time it correctly. When the epoxy cures to the green stage (leathery, non-tacky), then you can peel the glass off the tape, nick the edge of the fold with a sharp knife or razor blade and then just carefully tear the glass off. If the tear moves away from the tape edge, just knick it again. A light sanding will make the joint invisible when covered with epoxy.

Laszlo

(Click on picture for a larger image)

RE: hull ext cloth 2' too short can I use 2 pieces?

You don't need to overlap the cloth at all because that second layer is mostly for abrasion resistance, not strength. Don't leave a gap between the pieces, though, because that will show through the finish. -Wes

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