fibreglass smell

[daryl.ramage]

I am a new owner of a 1977 Sirius 21. I have a question for the group.
All of my holds seam to have a strong fibreglass (resin) smell.
I hate to put any PFDs or dishes or anything in the holds that will pick up this
smell.

Is this common? Is there a way to remedy this?

Thanks,
Daryl

 

[sailingdog]

Air out the holds. Given the age of the boat, the styrene, which is the primary component of the "fiberglass" smell, should be fairly easy to get rid of, given that the laminate is relatively old and not likely to be outgassing styrene fumes any longer. A good odor neutralizing technique is to put a large open container of used coffee grounds in the area you want to neutralize the odors for a few days.

I am a new owner of a 1977 Sirius 21. I have a question for the group.
All of my holds seam to have a strong fibreglass (resin) smell.
I hate to put any PFDs or dishes or anything in the holds that will pick up this
smell.

Is this common? Is there a way to remedy this?

Thanks,
Daryl

 

[kloudie1]

MMMMMM Man! It smells like NEW BOAT !

 

[RichH]

Air out the holds. Given the age of the boat, the styrene, which is the primary component of the "fiberglass" smell, should be fairly easy to get rid of, given that the laminate is relatively old and not likely to be outgassing styrene fumes any longer

Do provide ventilation for your holds to
1. allow the styrene outgassing to be removed by the ventilation. Polyester fiberglass will continue to outgas unbound styrene (monomer) for the life of the laminate, as the 'cure' is never completely cured; it just 'lessens' over long time as the unbound components eventually complete the polymerization.
2. ventilation allows the FRG to be cooler which retards the residual long term curing process and slows the outgassing. The cooler the laminate the less the rate of residual outgassing.

If this is a BLACK or DARK hulled boat, the outgassing will be accelerated due to the constant heating/cooling of the laminate.
You can consider to coat the surfaces with a thick layer of epoxy.

 

[sailingdog]

Rich—

On a 32 year old boat, the outgassing should be minimal.

Do provide ventilation for your holds to
1. allow the styrene outgassing to be removed by the ventilation. Polyester fiberglass will continue to outgas unbound styrene (monomer) for the life of the laminate, as the 'cure' is never completely cured; it just 'lessens' over long time as the unbound components eventually complete the polymerization.
2. ventilation allows the FRG to be cooler which retards the residual long term curing process and slows the outgassing. The cooler the laminate the less the rate of residual outgassing.

If this is a BLACK or DARK hulled boat, the outgassing will be accelerated due to the constant heating/cooling of the laminate.
You can consider to coat the surfaces with a thick layer of epoxy.