fiberglass over steel ??

[alexandlorna]

I am no expert, but the guy who re-gelled our boat ,and who builds and repairs them every day, told me you cant bond fibreglass to steel successfully .

[HappyMdRSailor]

The idiocy of glass over steel aside.... (proof yet again that you can find anything on the internet....)

Did anybody else think "pron music" in the video for the boat in the ad???

[EqPierre]

This is an 11 years old thread, hope somebody still reads it? I just bought a steel sailboat hull with engine an some timber inside. The deck, cabin outside and cockpit all have a layer of <fiberglass woven roving fabric> layed up. While taking off a small wooden structure on deck, part of this layer got off and showed the steelplate with a red primer beneath, as if it where brandnew. This boat was built 25 years ago in Auckland NZ, and does not show any sign of corrosion on the exterior. It never has been in the water, but has been outside most of the time, uncovered. Should I remove all the fiber and give it a normal steel coating?

[GordMay]

Greetings and belated welcome aboard the CF, EqPierre.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by EqPierre

This is an 11 years old thread, hope somebody still reads it? I just bought a steel sailboat hull with engine an some timber inside. The deck, cabin outside and cockpit all have a layer of <fiberglass woven roving fabric> layed up. While taking off a small wooden structure on deck, part of this layer got off and showed the steelplate with a red primer beneath, as if it where brandnew. This boat was built 25 years ago in Auckland NZ, and does not show any sign of corrosion on the exterior. It never has been in the water, but has been outside most of the time, uncovered. Should I remove all the fiber and give it a normal steel coating?

Is the hull steel with a wooden/fg deck and cockpit and dog house?

Or is all the super structure steel also? If so how thick?

Any other history on the boat, sounds an interesting story. Professionally built of home built? Etc.

The preferred method, today, to paint marine steel is with 2 part epoxy paints so it does stick. But it generally requires a mechanical bond. That is the surface is ground or sanded rough to give a “profile” for the paint to grab on to.

There are also one part primers such as Petite RustLoc which still require a surface but claim to work over light tightly adhered rust.

[clockwork orange]

I don't think I would glass over paint like that on new construction but it is certainly a viable way to save an old steel hull that would otherwise not be worth repair. Iv'e just got done rebuilding our marina workboat which is probably at least 50 years old and the steel is pretty thin but about 10 years ago the hull was rolled over, sand blasted and glassed with a couple of layers of double bias in epoxy up to about a foot above the waterline and there is zero evidence of it delaminating anywhere so we blasted the bilge and painted it before repowering with a diesel, new steering, sole, console etc and got it back in service last week moving docks and breaking ice. Yes, we use it to break ice in the fall until we get the docks out and in the spring so it will flush out sooner so we can get the docks in. We did have to add glass to the chines last year where it was wearing away but I would say it has been a great success. On new steel I would think that a layer of boat cloth in epoxy over freshly sandblasted steel would be a much better protective layer than any primer/paint system. Its no different to glassing a plywood hull, yes you can just paint it but a glass/ epoxy surface is far superior. Dynel/epoxy even better.

[EqPierre]

Thanks for the reply's guys. I agree with Clockwork that cloth in epoxy over freshly sandblasted steel would be a very good protective layer, but what worries me is the ease the cloth comes off the deck, what makes me wonder once the boat is in the water en starts moving...No way to see if water got under trough a small crack of pinhole until the rust starts pressing the cloth upwards. So i will probably tear off all the glass and sandblast before putting on epoxy primer. And on the deck, finish with Kiwigrip. hPeer, all steel indeed. If you like to know more about the boat you can check out eqmar.net and/or send me a message!