OK, I'm repairing a hatch cover and so far I have cut out the bad section and dug out all the rotten core material. I have ordered the new core material and now I'm wondering what type of cloth to use over it. It looked kind of like there was a layer of mat next to the core and the maybe biaxial cloth on top of that. The repair area is 21" X 36" Is that the way I should go with this?
What kind of Fiber glass cloth should I use?
- Thread starter Gary_H
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That sounds correct, chopped mat next to the core and biax to finish it.
Not exactly sure what I'm looking at in the pic but if that is the surface of the core that you will be covering you should either fair it with compound or make some extra layers of chopped mat to level out the surface. The biax will exactly follow the contour of the surface you put it on and you should not use gelcoat to fill in the holes.
Not exactly sure what I'm looking at in the pic but if that is the surface of the core that you will be covering you should either fair it with compound or make some extra layers of chopped mat to level out the surface. The biax will exactly follow the contour of the surface you put it on and you should not use gelcoat to fill in the holes.
The picture is just the reverse side of the piece I cut out. All the core is removed now and will be replace. I think I'll make the final surface thickened epoxy that can be faired out.
Once you get the surface covered in the last layer of biax you should use gelcoat to finish. All you should need to "fair" at that point is the actual weave of the biax.
OK that sounds good, This is my first major fiberglass repair attempt so there is no telling how it will turn out but it will be a good learning experience at any rate.
I am wrapping up my restoration project and I used +/- 45 and 0/90 biax cloth. I then fair with epoxy and 410 microlight. After that I redid the original gelcoat nonskid with Flex Mold. You can see the entire process under Oday Owners/ Bigger Boats/ And so it begins thread. This was an entire deck recore of an Oday 27.
If you are using epoxy (it is the best choice) gelcoat is not a good idea - it doesn't bond to epoxy very well.
If you are using biaxial you can skip the mat by purchasing biax with mat on one side. It is epoxy compatible (some mat isn't) and easier than using mat by itself. The repair should be as many layers as it takes to achieve the same thickness as the original. Lay down the largest piece first then the smaller pieces. That way there is no chance of sanding through the edges where it bonds to the taper you ground.
Here's a link to a pro doing this kind of repair - larger than a hatch though.
http://www.lackeysailing.com/snowlily/2012/march12/31412.htm
If you are using biaxial you can skip the mat by purchasing biax with mat on one side. It is epoxy compatible (some mat isn't) and easier than using mat by itself. The repair should be as many layers as it takes to achieve the same thickness as the original. Lay down the largest piece first then the smaller pieces. That way there is no chance of sanding through the edges where it bonds to the taper you ground.
Here's a link to a pro doing this kind of repair - larger than a hatch though.
http://www.lackeysailing.com/snowlily/2012/march12/31412.htm
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