Yeah, it was my first build and I learned a lot through the building process. I'm excited about glassing. I've heard the west system is good but rock hard when it comes to sanding. Any thoughts?Originally Posted by unsalted
If you've built a kayak you should be able to make a board pretty easily. Go light with your wood. I used 1/2" poplar in the frame and you can tell when you pick it up. I'm going for lightweight, cheaper materials next time.
You can glass with minimal waste with epoxy resin. Even the "fast cure" resin research epoxy sets up so predictably and slowly that there is no reason to have to mix up a bunch of extra resin. A three quart RR epoxy kit is $53 and if you plan to glass lightly (its wood so isn't one layer of cloth adequate for both the deck and the bottom?) and truly not waste a bunch of resin then three quarts would be enough.
Just guessing here for a board that size:
deck lam 28 oz
bottom lam 28 oz
deck hotcoat 18 oz
bottom hotcoat 18 oz
a bit less than three quarts. If you use a bit of the Additive F (which i would) then that $5 for 4 oz.
Last edited by mitchell; Oct 19, 2012 at 02:02 PM.
UHhhhh.... bump.
Come on. I need some glassing guidance here too! I appreciate the resin research comment. Still interested in solarez though. Pros, cons or other ideas out there for glassing on wood?
UV cure polyester resin will get you better clarity and will allow you to gloss and polish to a high shine. Epoxy won't do that for you. Guys have done epoxy over wood with great results... it might even be the norm... but I've seen some that had a haze, which can really stand out over wood. Poly will be crystal clear. As for gloss and polish, poly gloss resin is the way to go, and after all that effort, you want that baby to shine. Some guys have done poly gloss over epoxy, but with mixed results on durability coming from the inferior bond of poly-to-epoxy.
I guess what I'm saying is... you can get great results with epoxy. I've seen good ones, and not so good ones. But uv poly is not a mistake if you've already made up your mind. It may even give an inexperienced glasser the best shot at a showroom finish.
I agree with that...I've got just a bit of experience glassing (maybe 25 boards) but learning a LOT every time out...sometimes the hard way!
Out of the last eight maybe four have been Resin Research Epoxy and four have been UV cure poly resin. There are all kinds of good reasons to use epoxy, but man when it comes to:
ease of lamination
quick cure
sheet-glass-flat hot coats (dont forget the surfacing agent!)
NO FISH EYES
easy sand out to a nice finish
far less concern about ambient temperature
UV Poly is easy to love.
Thank you Sir! That's the validation i was looking for.
How many hours have you put into this project total?
No telling man. I made my first cut a year ago. But like I said, I e had a baby bought a house and moved during this time. I also worked in my shed, living room and my brothers garage before I moved. It was not efficient to say te least.
That being said, if you have all your tools, space and know how you should be able to comfortably put one together in a month. That's what I'm planning on for the next build. You could do it in a couple of days to a week. There is a lot of time watching the głue dry.
Howd you do your rails? What was the price range for the project?
It all depends on what you want to build with and what tools you have. A skill saw or band saw help a lot. I wouldn't want to do this with a jigsaw. You'll need a table saw if you're gonna rip your own wood for the deck. . I had to buy a lot of clamps and glue. You can go cheap or as expensive as you want on wood. Sapelle and poplar cost me $120 I think. I was advised against gorilla glue but it helped in a lot of uses. Titebond III was good for making the deck.
Glassing looks like its gonna run about 100-150.
I built up the rails with 1/4" strips. One by one. This is where you watch all the glue dry.
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