JEM Watercraft

jem wrote:If you slit the ends along the bow/stern stems, you should be able to "pet" the cloth to conform to all surfaces of the Laker. But BEFORE slitting, work the cloth so any folds or overlaps are in the bow/stern area. Then slit. The bow/stern stems will have some overlap, which is a good thing. It's easier to get standard weave to behave rather than tight weave. Chuck will attest to that.

Matt is correct.....

The tight weave is a sucker to work with but after you get the hang of it , it is not that bad either that or I forgot what it is like to work with regular glass.

I trim mine with about two inches hanging off the boat. If it wants to slide one way of the other then their is some room or margin for error. Just remember to trim it after it has set a little while. If you try trimming it when it is 1st wet out the glass WILL MOVE on you and cause wrinkles.
Best thing is a light touch and a really sharp razor knife.
If you do cut to hard , never fear the other coats of epoxy will fill the cut so there would not be any slice for water to get into later on.

Personally , I use a short nap roller made for epoxy and I get the 9 inch ones , gut them in half so I have two 4 1/2 inch ones , that doubles the rollers for me and I found that size is easier to work with. Plus it takes a couple of them to do a boat , especially if a batch of epoxy starts harding on you , then it is time to change , I can get about 4 or 5 batches mixed and used before the roller needs to be changed out. Disposable paint trays are a blessing when doing that.

Best thing I can say is to take your time , don't rush it. Plus I hate to say this but the glassing you are doing to the outside of the boat is the easy glassing to do , wait till you tackle the inside, not necessarily harder just more time consuming. There are some tricks to doing that like the clothes pins to hold the glass while you wet it out.

Chuck.

First fill coat on.






No real problems except at the ends where I just didn't have the right knack for cutting the glass to fit smooth. Right at the end of the slit when I tried to fold the ends over, it just wanted to buckle and wouldn't lay flat.






I will sand them down and add a strip up each end tomorrow when I put on the second fill coat.

Don't know whether I've got tight weave or regular. It wasn't all that difficult working with except for the aformentioned areas.

I'm still having fun.

Bruce

That is an inherited problem with the ends , after a while or a few more boats you will be able to cut the ends and then overlap them if you want to. I don't.

I sand then after they have cured and add a strip of fiberglass tape , you can also do it by taking a spare piece of the glass and cutting it on the diagonal then laying it over there and epoxying it on the boat. The diagonal piece will conform to the bend really nice. Which you will see when you put it on there before epoxying it , if you don't have the glass tape.

Building boats is a learning process , no matter how many you build there is always something to learn. That's half of the fun.

Chuck.
PS. By the way you did a bang up Job on glassing it , Well Done.

Thanks, Chuck. Matt said it would take a couple of hours, and that's just about how long it took.

After sanding tomorrow, I'll try laying a piece of scrap across it like you said. It's definitely a learning process. It really is a fascinating thing seeing a boat appear out of those sheets of plywood.

Bruce

Bruce36549 wrote: I'm still having fun.

That's a good sign!

You've done a good job there Bruce (MUCH better than mine).
Those end bits are really minor and the figure in your ply is very nice - she's going to look fantastic.

I always have difficulties with the ends as well. I have started sanding and then adding a bias cut strip as well like Chuck said. It seems easier to do it that way to me. The first kayak I glassed, I spent a lot of time constantly trying to get every thing to stay down and then ended up with a bubble any ways.

What I like to do is let the stems cure as they will and then clean it up with a sander.

Then I'll laminated some narrow strips (can always use more protection up there). If the strips are not behaving, some clear packaging tape over the lamination usually does the trick.

Rolled on the final fill coat this afternoon.





Tomorrow I will be flipping it and starting work on the inside.

I am psyched with the way it looks. Very pleased with the appearance, and have changed my original plans to paint the hull. I've decided to leave it natural.

Go Lance!!

Bruce

the grain of the wood looks absolutely beautiful. Looks like you did a beautiful job with the epoxy.

looking great!