tabbing repair - mind the gap

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

I am repairing the tabbing where my settees come into contact with the hull. The fiberglass along the settee had come loose (the floor sagged I've braced that). I did all the grinding a bit ago and now I'm ready to do the cleanup and glassvwork.

I'm curious about the gap between the hull and the settee is about 1.5" all the way along. This was there all along and the old glass had a nice curve to it where it transitioned from the hull to the wood. Do I just work that shape into the glass with the bubble roller?

Since thart of the glass is "free floating" I'm assuming I'll need to wet the center of the strip with epoxy seperate from the epoxy I'm laying on hull and wood.

I think have this altogether in my head but wanted to float the question and see if anyone had any advice\tips.

Thanks a lot!
-p

[SkiprJohn]

Wow, 1.5" is quite a separation. I'd get some surfboard foam and cut it into gently angled strips to put it between hull and settee and glass hull to settee. I always use more than necessary but about half the hull thickness in several layers ought to do it. I too always use epoxy.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[sylinnea]

1.5'' is too much. You would have to use a lot of glass to make it stiff enough, so it would be cheaper as well as easier and better looking to fill the void first. A strip of plywood would do.

/matti

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

I might be exaggerating but it sounds like making it smaller wouldn't be bad.

On the wood side, are you suggesting I just screw a strip down along the settee fairly flush to the hull and then lay iy up?

As I as searching I stumbled on this book The Fiberglass Boat Repair Manual - Google Book Search and it shs a much tighter fitting and discusses using foam to make the area more rounded so the curve in gentler.

Sounds like I should combine both the plywood and the foam approach then lay it up.

That sounds pretty reasonable. I'll post some pics this weekend.

-p

[sylinnea]

On slightly smaller voids, I have just used micro balloons and epoxy, maybe with some tape underneath so it won't drip out. But as a settee is quite long you might use a lot of expensive epoxy. But if it is, say 1.5 '' at its widest and generally smaller, I might be tempted to just use some smaller filler pieces of plywood at the widest and micro balloons everywhere else. If it isn't structural, I wouldn't use glass over it. But it is often a good idea to use these longitudals to stiffen up the hull.

/matti