I've been applying the S - Glass to the wings of the boat this weekend. I
varied the wet out procedure a little with great results. Some of this was due
to some suggestions from Jordan Spencer the other Aussie builder. This is how I
did it.
Wet out half the inside of the wing steps with a brush.
Pre apply the mixed 207 resin to half the wood of the wing and gunwale with
a roller.
Lay the S-glass on top of the wet out cedar and the apply another layer of
resin on top with the roller. This process gets rid of most large bubbles of
air. Quickly squeegee the lay up to press glass tight against the wood and get
rid of most bubbles.
Repeat process for second half. Speed rolling out resin is required as the
dry glass is sitting on the wetout layup of the other half at this stage.
At this stage go over whole job with squeegee removing bubbles from layup.
Wait for tack free drying of resin and reapply another layer of resin with
roller. There will still be some glass weave visible after this application.
Repeat above but this time apply a layer of peel ply after application of
this layer of resin. When applying the peel ply work from the middle of the
wing out removing air bubbles as you let it sink down onto your layup. This can
mainly be achieved by pulling the material at the edges to pull out the
bubbles.
Once this has been achieved use a squeegee to remove the other small
bubbles.
At this point it becomes obvious which part of your layup still needs a
touch more resin as the weave on the fibreglass can be seen through the peel
ply. Simply add a little resin at these points with the squeegee and the weave
is replaced with a smooth surface. This was mainly at the gunwales on my boat.
Advantages
Faster.
Less trouble with bubbles - but not perfect.
Uses less resin.
Finished surface is really flat and will require very little sanding.
Finished product will be lighter.
Disadvantages
You need to work at speed for some of the process.
Increased use of rollers - more cost
Make sure you are careful to apply the peel ply to the middle of your work
and pull out creases and bubbles as you roll it out. I neglected to do this on
the first wing and was left with a couple of areas where the peel ply wasn't
flush with the resin. After peeling it off these areas have ended up very
slightly higher than the rest of the job - nothing a small amount of sanding
wont fix.
These are more thoughts on the process and I will be using it for the balance
of my glassing work on the project. I think it is a significant amount better
than simply squeegeeing but I do not profess to be really good at this boat
building lark and am simply sharing this as an alternative for others to
consider.
Cheers,
Steve
nb I'll get some photos up with how it looks in the next couple of days.
Check out my Swift Solo build progress on
www.aussieswift.livesaildie.com
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