Biax fiberglass cloth identification - dumpster diver roll

[boatsnh]

Here's a weird one:
A buddy of mine got a roll of biax cloth at a local mid-coast Maine land fill ..I know...dumpster divers....and he wants me to "tell him what it is" since I'm usually describing some boat project I'm working on (decks & cabin top replacement this year).

In fact he told me there were "hundreds" of yards of the same stuff at the land fill...this was the only roll he could carry out - I'm told there was enough glass on rolls to fill a semi truck trailer box...amazing.....the glass is perfect; no snags, runs, stains). It had to be worth a small fortune to someone....

It's a 45/45 weave biax with no backing mat about 50 inch wide and weighs 80 lbs or so on the roll we have.

Any easy way to figure out what weight cloth this is?? I was thinking of cutting a "square yard" and weighing it...looks to be heavier than the 10 oz "boat cloth" i've been using on the cabin top on my rehab...I may just "compare" it to some 1708 next time I'm at a local vendor to pick up supplies...

Thoughts?

Oh...& no I won't send the complete roll to have folks "test" it in their projects for the next 10 years or so...and then "get back" to me.....

Mike

[galleywench]

I would guess that unless you know the length of the roll and want to do some simple math, the easiest way would be to do what you said and weigh a yard.
Since we are so close, I could swing by with a swatch of #1708 biax (I'm using Kyntex) sometime this week to compare. Then I could get a tour of your project.

Also, check out http://www.fiberglasssite.com, they have a pretty big selection of cloth and some high res images of the cloth (front and back images for stichmat).

I'm reasonably free this week after work, let me know.

[radicalcy]

First thing I'd do is confirm that this is fiberglass. I've seen woven nylon
that I would have sworn was glass. There were a couple of hundred rolls in a surplus office supply yard. I have no idea what this fabric is used for, but I've handled hundreds of yards of woven fiberglass, and I really couldn't tell the difference. (Tip: nylon melts if you put a match to it, glass doesn't .

[Rachel]

Just as an aside, when we used to build kayaks (for ourselves, in the garage - not professionally), we used a layup of two layers of S-glass, one of Kevlar, and one of Nylon. The nylon was so that the pieces would tend to hang together when smashed (on a rock, etc.).

(This was long before Internet/research, and I have no idea how this formula was arrived at; it was basically handed down from one person to another like a recipe.)

[boatsnh]

Interesting...RE: Nylon. I've got a few yards of Dynel style cloth and a polyester I got for some "destruction tests". Does not look at all like them. I'll have to put a torch to it to see. Over the years I've found thet Glass cloth is easily "broken" if balled/pounded.. That's where some of the "itch" is from..Short filaments.

I was given a sample of 1708 by Matt (galleywench) and I'd guess the fabric is a 12 oz Biax on comparison. For a covering over plywood decks it will probably work well, althought it will be harder to smooth that the 10oz cloth I've been using. The existing covering (from 1973) was a single layer of 10oz glass in polyester - so no matter what I do It will be better since it's in epoxy resin.

[radicalcy]

Did you ever find out what this cloth was?

[boatsnh]

Thanks for the inquiry....I have pretty much figured it out.

the roll is about 90 yards of 12.5 oz bi-axial cloth - made by Corning. No Mat - just the 45/45 weave stitched together.
I have found that this material is sold for lot's of different applications - often to OEM mfg's . Corning has a good website with various tech info....It would work pretty well for the kinds of things us "weekend warriors" do to our boats. I probably ought to try to get more, but then what would I do with it.....

Still not sure if I'll use it on decks since there is a bit more work/resin involved compared to the 9.5oz cloth I had planned to use - the existing deck was 9 oz cloth with polyester resin & it lasted for ...oh, 35 years.
The big decision is to remove/not remove toe rails to run the cloth under - or run the cloth up the side of the toe rail & add a cap. Probably a lot of work either way... Oh well things to worry about.

I've got the cabin tops completely re-glassed w/ 2 layers of 10 OZ , some teak hatches rebuilt/re-varnished & the Decks pretty much ready for new Glass....a reasonably productive summer..
Fun is...
Mike