James c harrell

My Feedback: (18)

I have a boat that was ran into a pylon. The front end was damaged badly. I need to completely remake the nose of the boat. It is fiberglass and I was wondering how to form the front end back to mold the fiberglass around. Should I make the frame of light balsa then fiberglass over it?

wyowindworks

I would reshape the front with foam and then glass over it.

James c harrell

My Feedback: (18)

Glass won't melt foam?

saramos

Use epoxy and glass and it will not affect the foam.

James c harrell

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Epoxy finish resin right? I was thinking about that but was wondering if there was a way to do it with regular fiberglass. Mainly because I have two whole cans of it and would have to buy the epoxy resin. Just looked at some and it ain't cheap!! Would epoxy bond as good to regular fiberglass?

James c harrell

My Feedback: (18)

By the way Saramos, just looked at your profile photos. Wow!! That Spit is nice!!

wyowindworks

If you want to use polyester resin (fiberglass resin) then you need to use a urethane foam or seal the polystyrene foam VERY WELL. The bonding of the resin (matrix) to the glass is dependent on the finish that is on the glass. Some finishes work only with polyester, some only work with epoxy, and some work with both. If the glass has the correct finish then epoxy will bond to the glass better than polyester can.

Epoxy "finishing" resin is an absolute misnomer. Why Pacer calls their epoxy resin a "finishing" resin totally eludes me. Maybe it's because it doesn't blush. Anyway, you would want to use an epoxy laminating resin not an epoxy bonding resin. The Pacer resin works but there are better choices in my opinion. The Pacer resin isn't that cheap either. It comes out $130 per gallon. There are many quality laminating epoxies that are under $100 per gallon.

James c harrell

My Feedback: (18)

Origional plan was to re-shape it with foam and coat with Evercoat (bondo). Smaller than actual size then fiberglass over that. It was just an idea though. I haven't ever attempted this type of repair. As you can probably tell. After it dries I can access the inside to dremel out the un-needed evercoat.

wyowindworks

Bondo is polyester resin based. It will melt polystyrene foam.

James c harrell

My Feedback: (18)

I guess that shoots my idea in the foot then. Guess I will have to pull out the wallet.

saramos

Hi James,

Thanks for the complement.

I suppose another way would be to carve it out of balsa, then you could use any glassing method.

Scott

darren763

My Feedback: (117)

Or you could buy a quart of foam safe polyester resin. http://www.expresscomposites.com/resins.html for $22 and shipping. I have used it over pink foam with no problems.

Good luck,

Darren