Fiberglassing the Hull

Once the last of the repairs were made and all of the sanding was complete, it was time to fiberglass the exterior of the hull. Eventually the hull will have a layer of fiberglass on the outside and on the inside, but for now I am only doing the outside.

There are a couple of ways of applying glass, I chose to use the dry method, which involves draping the cloth over the dry hull and then applying the epoxy over the top of the glass and allowing it to soak through and saturate the glass.

I won’t try and document the entire process here, if you want a detailed tutorial, I suggest you download Ted Moore’s article: “Fiberglassing a woodstrip hull. Techniques for a perfect clear finish.” from the West System website. Of all the things I read, this was one of the most helpful.

I was lucky to have two helpers for the first coat of epoxy. The first helper mixed 6-8 ounce batches of epoxy as we needed them. The second helper and I used squeegees (West System 808 Flexible Plastic Spreaders) to spread the epoxy over the glass and remove the excess once the cloth was fully saturated. After about 4 hours, we repeated the process to add the second coat.

The third and fourth coats I completed myself the next morning using a roller (West System 800 Roller Covers). I did not need helpers for these coats.

Tip of the day: Do not try and do the first coat by yourself, especially if this is your first time fiberglassing. This is truly a case of many hands make light work.

Caption: A view of the hull after fiberglassing and flipping.

I used a 200 gram cloth from Adhesive Technologies combined with the West System 105/207 resin/hardener epoxy mix. I was very happy with the end result and would not hesitate to use the same products again

The final finish was clear and smooth with only a very few small runs I will need to sand out before varnishing.

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