Plastic Classic Forum

All good points ,Quetzal...but that mahogany will dry in plenty of time before spring,and holds epoxy very well. Why would this rudder be more fragile than any one of millions sheathed in gelcoat? Either way,if you ding it, or shear it off on a rock ,it's still gonna need re-fixing.....[I got to thi...

I'd be inclined ,if I was going to take rudder apart anyway,to glue it together with epoxy -then coat liberally until wood won't take anymore. Then smooth it ,prime and paint. Dont think it would need sheathing with glass if glue job and saturation are well done.,assuming it's a pretty small rudder,...

A clever fabricator should be able to make heavy-duty baseplates that would accept short hex bolts that are quickly removeable depending on set-up [lifelines or no] that fits sailing you'll be doing. Side benefit would be for storage where it's often easier to cover boat well without stanshins pokin...

I wonder if anyone here has ever used the 6'' random-orbit sander from Fein tools? It has been the standard among repairers in my area for many years. Used together with their vacuum, it's performance far outstrips the Porter-Cable.Of course, it's ridiculously expensive [the pair usually go for abou...

Do you have 110 power near shed? If so,look at small fans [about 6'' dia.] available from grainger.com. They are cheap,you can attach to plywood and install one at each end. Problem with wind-driven, I think, will be that when you need venting most-as tent is warming, and sweating, in morning hours-...

A few suggestions that may help keep your shed cozy and dry...when you're ready to do a skirt with shrinkwrap,dig a trench-wrap the plastic around a piece of old pipe-and bury it. Then bring the plastic up about 2' off the ground and tape and heat it.Backfill a bit up to the shed and you will encour...

Was paint uncured? or not sticking to primer? If big sections can be peeled off-that indicates really bad adhesion.[guess thats probably obvious] I would also suspect possible oil contamination of primed surfaces, or sanded primer wiped with improper solvent, or moisture was on surface when paint ap...

There is a product out there I've had lots of success with that helps with some of the sadness-inducing aspects of brightwork application and maintenance. It's called Bristol Finish, their website has good info...I can testify to it's ease of use,excellent appearance[just like glossy varnish], and r...

You lost me a little bit at the end there, but I think you have a valve body with female threads in the lower half that was screwed onto the male-threaded part that incldes the strainer on outside of hull. If turning valve counter-clockwise does not unscrew,then maybe strainer is covering thru-hull ...

For easy adhesive or sealant removal, try 3M adhesive cleaner-it comes in liquid or aerosol. For your use, the liquid,liberally brushed on with a cheap bristle brush is the way to go. If you saturate a couple sq. foot area at a time thenwork a sharp-edged drywall knife under it, the goo should come ...

Glad your rudder is dry. Don't think you are looking at woven roving,though. My guess is major work has been done in the past because what's visible looks more like repair material than original construction. More pics might help-but from here doesn't look like much structural glass left [you didn't...

I'm at the same place as you with a project -have replaced all deck core and skin. Have been fairing with thickened West System[it's getting old fast]. The next step will be to roll on several heavy coats of 2-part epoxy primer.I use a product from Sherwin-Williams called epoxy-polyamide,comes in tw...

Everything I do on a boat is an experiment! It's worth it cause usually works out and sometimes leads to a better , or at least easier way. Cetol application is a good example-I usually apply 2-3 coats at a time ,thin,and letting tack up slightly between. On bare wood first coat will often fuzz up a...

Damage shown does look very minor-but no one wants to inherit a problem when they buy a boat ,unless its factored into sale price. Is boat Far East-built? If so, many were cored with plywood,which can easily mask what's going on under the deck skin.For instance,moisture can movebetween outer skin an...

Rachel-you are right that epoxy needs to be painted to offer UV protection. Depends on pattern,but I found that 2-3 coats of rolled[ or even better sprayed ]Awlgrip,only slightly softens the pattern. Wouldn't try this method at all if you weren't going to paint with LP products since its too much wo...

Sorry,just used to people nodding off when talking boat stuff-but,of course ,thats why you all are here.Yes, slicks are the smooth channels between the non skid panels...and if you are doing entire deck,it' easiest to layout non-skid so that no one section is larger than the piece of Flex-mold you a...

There certainly are many ways to mess up when trying this-no fault of the material...but if like me ,you are using anything other than an irregular pattern-then alignment from section to section is very tricky.Creating ''slicks''-even if old layout didn't have them helps with this. Also would recomm...

Sorry you had to learn about tarps the hard way...dont give up on the shrinkwrap idea.It's easy to do,wont really cost you that much and tou can do it ONCE, get excellent illumination for working,good solar heating ,excellent snow shedding, and no flapping and banging as wind whips down the plains. ...

Not familiar with the MAS patterns, but have used Gibco molds many times,they work very well and of course are re-usable[if you take good care when prepping and cleaning mold]. I hate using gelcoat, so tried using Gibco mold with 2-part epoxy primer and it worked perfectly! Was then able to scotch-b...

Have fastened teak to decks many different ways. For small areas ,epoxy makes sense, but you cannot let it get wet before almost full-cure! A helpful quality about epoxy that you dont hear taken advantage of is reaction to heat....any heat gun and putty knife will soften cured epoxy,you can remove i...