mrorv

My Feedback: (1)

I'm building 46" SIG floats and I was told they need to be fibreglassed for strength. What are some of my options and what has some others done in similar situations? I've went ahead in manual and haven't seen anything on this unless I've missed it. Certainly it would make sense to glass for strength. The floats are going on 1/4 scale clipped wing cub 86"W.S. mrorv

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

As a general practise most floats are glassed. Extra strength and water proofing are a couple of reasons, but the big one is abrasion resistance when the plane is run up on the beach (think of it as running across a large sheet of sandpaper - with real sand!)

Floats take a lot of abuse, especially when the plane is not flying - they get left in the hot sun all day, they get stepped on, leaned on, tripped over, tossed in the car, and have things piled on them.....

retransit

My Feedback: (18)

As nony posted, go ahead with glass and resin. The finish with paint over resin will come out better and most importantly they will be waterproof. If you get some water in the floats they tend to rot from the inside out because the water cannot escape. The resin and glass will help prevent this problem.

Bob

teryn1

My Feedback: (77)

I have built these also (http://www.terynd.com/supercub.html) and I put lightweight glass with Minwax polyurethane. These floats work beautifully on the wealter. Polyurethane works like a charm and is easier to apply than epoxy. It will go in and seal the holes well.

retransit

My Feedback: (18)

The Minwax polyurethane I used yellowed the white latex that I covered. Maybe another brand would work better.

Bob

teryn1

My Feedback: (77)

I painted over the top of my Minwax, but, yes, if you use that for the last coat, it will yellow.