fiberglassing a hull
 

hi
i want to make a fiberglass hull the guys in my airplane club told me to put duck tape on the rib hull and then use a release and then glass with 6 oz cloth ,this is a big boat 5' long , i not sure, the tape is on but not as tight as if i was covering a wing, does it matter or is there a different way. thanks rye

RE: fiberglassing a hull
 

Since you already have the tape on, you can take some craft paper and place on the inside of the hull against the tape. You want to make sure your form is very stiff, and I mean stiff. You can use foam, poster board, cardboard, etc. You have to make sure you have the form correct. Do not use such heavy glass in your first lay-up since you have the tape on. You should start with a very light glass, 1 ounce will do, glass small sections at a time, maybe a twelve inch square at a time. The reason for this is to make sure you start the form and keep it without the tape or other material sagging. Once you have the hull shaped and cured with the light glass, you will notice that it is still flexible. Repeat the process. Once you have the hull nice and rigid, THEN you can lay it up with heavier cloth. If this is a hull for humans, you certainly have to build it for that. If it is a model, then you will need to plan ahead and glass in the pieces you need to build the model. I would use a couple of layers of 4 ouce cloth, or 5, or 6, to get the solid hull you want. Be sure to glass in your transom while you are doing the hull. You don't want to add that after the fact. Happy building!

RE: fiberglassing a hull
 

no no no dont do it ,it will give you a terrible hull the only way i can see you could use the ribs is either cover them with balsa!! or use card board.then coat the card with pva and water let it dry completely then try the releas agent and glass over it.tape will never work.far better than tape you could use brown paper and pva and water .do about 4 layers let it dry it will shrink enough to tighten up and not sag.i used brown paper to cover this plane and it drys hard and tight also.excuse the dust lol.[img][/img]

RE: fiberglassing a hull
 

hey guys
thanks ,i think i am going to take the tape of and sheet it with 1/16 or 3/32 sheeting then glass it with 2 or three layers of 2 oz glass rye

RE: fiberglassing a hull
 

good idea mate heres a few pics of a higgins boat ive built for my son and check this link out to the build might give you a few tips.for speed you can use sheets vertically on the sides as i did and planks for the underneath ,1/2 wide will do.[img][/img][link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4849173/tm.htm[/link]