What is the best way to get fiberglass tape to end of bow...without making a big mess!

I am joining the hull and deck of a Night Heron, and I would appreciate some suggestions on how to proceed.

I have used fiber reinforced tape to get ready to epoxy my hull to my deck, but I'm having problems rolling out the fiberglass tape to within the usual one foot of the bow.

I have followed Nick's book so far, and have made great progress....but....

I have tried to roll out the glass without epxoy to practice, but it is difficult to make the fiberglass tape to curve toward the bow. Whenever I push the roll, it pulls the glass keeps getting pulled toward the bow, and it wrinkles or piles up...then gets twisted...!

Any suggestions before I actually use epoxy with the fiberglass tape would be greatly welcome at this point so that I don't create a mess of glass and epoxy in the inside of my great looking (so far) kayak!

Thanks,

Chris F


6 replies:

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RE: What is the best way to get fiberglass tape to end of bow...without making a big mess!

Chris,

Take a deep breath, you're overthinking it.

Tape without epoxy does not handle the same as properly saturated tape. There's no real point to practicing with it because you're just training yourself for the wrong technique.

Saturated tape does not wrinkle, it conforms to curves and sticks to surfaces. So the short answer is - do what the book says, but do it with wet tape (as the book says).

Finally, if it doesn't work out, pull it all out, take a break and try again later with fresh tape & epoxy. You don't have to accept a poor result - it's all under your control. Worst comes to worse, you may have to order more tape and/or epoxy, but your boat will still look great.

Have fun,

Laszlo

 

 

RE: What is the best way to get fiberglass tape to end of bow...without making a big mess!

everything Laszio says.  Dry glass tape is light and stiff enough to have a fair amount of body.  Add uncured epoxy and it gets heavy enough that all the body goes away and it will drape very nicely.  It also sticks, so as you manipulate it to smoothe out wrinkles, it only effects 5mm or so on either side, instead of 200mm with dry tape.

RE: What is the best way to get fiberglass tape to end of bow...without making a big mess!

Thx for advice on putting down my tape! 

I'll let you know how things turn out after I get this part finished!

Thanks again!,

Chris F

RE: What is the best way to get fiberglass tape to end of bow...without making a big mess!

Ok, 2" layer of fiber tape down, and then 1" layer of fiber tape down....not as hard as I thought. 

Pre saturating the boat and then the tape helps it stick so that when it's rolled out  it is not that hard to negotiate down the seam. The wooden tool on my long stick was a good thing to have when pushing the roll to keep it on track. Push on the right side it will go more left, and pushing on the left side will make it go more right.

Now, lunch time...maybe the other side later this evening,

Thanks for your help again Laszlo and Celeste,

Chris F

RE: What is the best way to get fiberglass tape to end of bow...without making a big mess!

Whew,

2" and 1" glass tape joining deck and hull successful! 

One small ball of glass goo toward bow one one side, but who will know?

Thanks for the help,

Chris F

RE: What is the best way to get fiberglass tape to end of bow...without making a big mess!

Here's the technique I used on the stem.  

 

photostream

 

Chenango Pete

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