Fibre glass is visible

I glassed the deck of my Mill Creek 16.5 only to find that the fiber glass is visible beneath the epoxy. This is not due to bubbles/outgassing; it seems that the fiber glass I bought is not perfectly clear and it really detracts from the wooden finish.

I am going to have to sand it all off an redo it.

Has anyone else experienced this. I did not read anywhere that there are different type of fiberglass with differing clarity.


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RE: Fibre glass is visible

Apparently some fiberglass has a binder, or sizing, meant for polyester resin, which prevents it from wetting out clear. Perhaps you got some of that? Also, some very tight weave cloth is hard to wet out totally transparently. Or, your epoxy and boat surface were too cold to wet out the glass thoroughly. Or the glass was exposed to moisture, first, which ruins the sizing for epoxy.

Lots of things can go wrong . . . it's happened to me, too, with voluminous cursing and forehead smacking.

You can paint your hull. Black looks nice.

If you want to start over, use a heat gun and peel off the fiberglass - much easier than sanding. Wear a respirator and make sure there's ventilation.

Good luck!

Dave Gentry

Here's a pic of my old CLC North Bay - it's tough to see the ugly fiberglass on it, under all that paint . . . .

 

RE: Fibre glass is visible

RE: Fibre glass is visible

Dave,

What's  your coaming made of?  It's got a nice, low profile - almost like it's fiberglass (vice plywood)....  I'm thinking of doing a fiberglass/carbon fiber molded one and am looking for tips/hints/etc.

Thanks,

Larry

RE: Fibre glass is visible

It's plywood, sorry.

RE: Fibre glass is visible

Dave,

No worries, it looks great!

I'll be building up my coaming this weekend and will have pics in my post (17 (LT Modified)).  It'll be the rough-in of glass and carbon; won't have it smoothed out and attached for another week or so.  But, progress is progress, and I'm very happy with how quickly this has all come together.

Thanks for getting back to me, 

Larry

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