Vintage Inboard Cruisers to Centre Console Conversion

[gazza2006au]

I am no fibreglasser or fibreglass expert guys all i am is a bloke giving it a try im not a perfectionist either..

I have put together a video of previous pod and mold pics i put a video of todays mat session in there but im not showing the terrible cloth experience i'll upload the video tomorrow after i video taking the job out of the mold

Haha i am shocking at somethings i will admitt it was likely me who ...... the double bias as i am still unsure how to lay it i am trying to lay it as one whole piece.. but the resin kicked off and i paniced

Its my inexperienced skills i have done huge searches and can only find one pod build on youtube on a big bertram so i am kind of winging it with the help from all of you blokes which i appreciate

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[gazza2006au]

Hey fellas the pod came out of the mold relatively easy with using just the PVA release but i did have to pull the mold apart, there are a few little screw driver marks but the pod needs a light fairing anyway

Extremly happy it worked out

A bit bummed about yesterdays mishap as the inside of pod looks like crap where i ground down small hairy bits and one big air bubble but shit happens

I'll upload a video shortly and some pictures

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[gazza2006au]

Here it is fresh off the moldAttachment 120698Attachment 120699Attachment 120700Attachment 120701Attachment 120702

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[gazza2006au]

Came in at 8 layers (6 mat 2 woven roving) 9-10mmAttachment 120703

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[gazza2006au]

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[gazza2006au]

Going to retry using the 900g double bias going to lay a strip side,back, side or top, back, bottom than pannel the two opposing pannels and lock it all together with strips im hopping this works

Heres some pics she needs to be trimmed to the right size but not untill im finished

The bottom two corners will be trimmed according to the hull shapeAttachment 120712Attachment 120713Attachment 120714Attachment 120715

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[Dignity]

Gazza, did you seal the ply before you put the release agent on. It should have come off easily, it looks like the ply absorbed the PVA. I usually apply 5 coats of wax and rarely need the PVA. Also it looks like your using those thin diameter rollers, you won't get enough resin into your work, I use a 130mm roller, you also need to make more of your resin up in one go, if that small amount you are making is going off before you've used it sll up then you are putting too much MKEP in your mix. For rounded corners in your next mould try plasticine, wedge it into the corners then using a rounded piece of metal (there are special tools but you can get away with anything rounded) you can created a nice rounded edge. 3 coats of flowcoating applied while the previous coat was tacky would have given you a good base that should have required minimal sanding.

[gazza2006au]

i wanted the flat corner look Dig otherwise i would have filled the corners after putting in the 45 degree corners with modeling clay to round them off but i didnt want the whole rounded look to the pod, my transom is cut mostly strait lines so i wanted to keep that look for the pod also

yeah im using the little yellow stripe rollers i use for the epoxy on the boat they work pretty good i could go up to 130mm but than i would have to buy new rollers, new trays, new handle etc.. to match

once the mold was built i covered the inside everywhere with epoxy resin i let that cure than i used a roller to apply the pva realease it had plenty of pva release on it u can see the plywood when i pulled the mold apart was all blue thats not the polyester resin its the pva release, the polyester resin turns brown when it kicks off, the pva release is blue and dries blue

i think the mold stuck just because icould only put one layer of pva release on it as the guy at the shop said if i put a 2nd layer on it wipes off the first layer

[Dignity]

Sounds like not enough PVA, did you spray it or brush/roller it on.

Those little rollers are ok for flowcoat and small jobs etc but you need to get the resin quickly and they just dont hold enough resin. The 130mm rollers are only about $3.50, handle probably the same, would save you a lot of angst.

[gazza2006au]

Do u have a link to the 130mm roller Dig? i will look into it, i just checked yesterdays episodes of videos as my camera records in 20min clips it took me 20mins to wet out the chopped mat than i spent another 20mins trying to work with the double bias, after 42mins passed i tore out the double bias as it went off while i was rolling it quiet a disastrous video i had no idea how to lay that cloth down

i was mixing about 1.2 to 1.4 percent of mekp 12mls to 14mls per 1000mls of resin the fibreglass shop guy said dont go below 1.2 percent i just realized looking back into the video the sun popped its head out of the clouds right on the pod and i was only 15mins away from being under the shade from the sun bugger

i rolled the pva on with a foam roller

not sure why but my angles on the pod look shithouse in my pictures and video it looks like two different angles for some reason but the pod has both the same angles top and bottom

[Dignity]

Gazza, standard roller avail from that big green warehouse or any paint shop. Forgot to ask, did you only seal the ply with one coat as generally that cheap ply will need 2 coats, the first virtually goes below the surface, the second will give you a surface which you sand smooth. Even with formply i will wax the surface at least 5 times, can use PVA on top of it but if done properly there's no need and your pod should have just popped out.

[scottar]

Could have just been because it's ever so slightly bigger at the back end or the ply was ever so slightly bowed too. She's out now and looks the part . All is good.

[gazza2006au]

Yeah i only done one layer of epoxy over the bare plywood it did soak in and it felt kind of furry once cured but i figured i was going to fair and sand the pod before painting

[gazza2006au]

What percentage of hardener would u guys use? My last successful session was at 8am and it was 19c at this rate i get 40mins play time

Yesterdays session was about 5pm and atlease 30c at this rate the resin kicked off after 25-27mins and it was hard to tear the cloth out

I know the guy at the shop said no less than 1.2% but geez that means i cant do any work at all on these warm days

Should i jerry rig the air conditioner in the doorway of the shed and work in 19c temps?

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[scottar]

Smaller batches more frequently Gazza. I was working with 400gm mixes in summer up here in Brissy.