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Glassing the deck of an old West River 180
I have a West River 180 I built about 10 years ago. I am currently doing some refitting and making repairs. I noticed that the current version of the boat has a glassed deck. Back when I buit mine the deck was simply epoxied and varnished.
I am wondering if I should go ahead and glass the deck while I am making my repairs. And if so, do I need to sand all the way to the bare wood before applying the glass or can I just rough up the current surface.
Thanks
1 reply:
RE: Glassing the deck of an old West River 180
» Submitted by ootdb - Wed, 2/17/10 » 8:18 AM
If you haven't damaged the deck in 10 years of use, you don't really need to add glass. If you have some damage (cracks, dings, water spots, etc.), you could think about adding 4-oz cloth to your deck.
I'd do it it two halves, fore and aft, to make it easier around the cockpit. You'll have to be creative around the hatches to ensure resin doesn't spoil your hatch seats. Fill any screw holes with goop (dril-fill-drill routine) so they don't fill part way with plain resin and air. And run tape around the hull about an inch below the sheer line. When glassing, spread your epoxy partway onto the tape and be extra wary of drips. When the epoxy is green cut off the glass at the top edge of the tape and peel the tape off.
Fair the deck, fixing any damage, before glassing. Trying to take everythig down to bare wood leaves lots of opportunity for going too deep in places.
Either way, good luck and hope you have many more years paddling your WR