Fiberglassing Anchor locker Hunter 22

[Dorsilfin]

Hey all! I'm in a fix all the leaks mood so I started looking deeper into my anchor locker which has been causing some drips into the Vbirth of my Hunter 22.

I've peeled and cut back the fiberglass that was laid on it and the edges were not sealed any longer and everything under it was wet.










So its an anchor locker. I'm not concerned with looks at all, I'm more concerned with it being sealed and not leaking.

I've never worked with fiberglass nor epoxy but ive started watching youtube videos on it and For this small of a job I think I can manage.

I'm looking for advice on what type of epoxy and fiberglass stuff I would need, there are a ton of items on amazon as well as marine sites and the prices range from 80 bucks for a gallon kit

http://www.amazon.com/PREMIUM-EPOXY-...eywords=marine

or 180 bucks for west marine gallon kit
West System Epoxy Kit, 105 gal, 206 quart Slow Hardener w/ Pumps - Fiberglass Resin: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Am I going to need a gallon for this job?

It just seems like I dry the whole thing out really freaking well. get some slivers of wood in the sides to fill those cracks in, then clean/sand/acetone it all down.

Soak the area with epoxy resin, lay down fiberglass matts and soak them into one and other creating a layer after layer to build it up and then soak it all down with more resin and then wait for it all to cure and harden up and im good to go?

[Zach]

Go ahead and acetone wash, and grind back the areas that would trap moisture.

I would set up a two 250W brooder bulbs inside the anchor locker, and tarp it over so no dew or rain can find its way in.

Keep the plywood hotter than a hundred degrees, but where you can still hold your hand against it without being burned.

In a 2-3 days... Tape a piece of plastic sheet over the top of the board, and take away the lights.

If you still have condensation form on the plastic, it isn't quite dry enough to glass.

When you can tape down the plastic and have no condensation you are good to go.

Use clean everything with Acetone. Grind everything with 36 grit. Use Epoxy. Mix a little thickened epoxy and fill any holes in the corners. Wet the plywood with resin. Lay three layers of 1708 biax, one at a time into place and call it good. Wet out the first layer, use the next layer to mop up the excess epoxy.

If you weigh your fabric, you'll use the same number of fluid ounces to wet out the fabric, as the fabric weighs.

Air roll the fabric with a bubble popper. Only extend up the side of the hull 3 inches or so on all corners.

If this is your first job, I would roll on some excess resin and try to fill the weave without leaving puddles. Come back and grind/sand until you just see cloth and then wait a few weeks... Paint with Interlux Bilge Coat.

Tape, and plastic cover the deck so you don't get epoxy prints on your gel coat. Even if you wipe up well with acetone, you'll still have some yellowing if it gets on the gel coat... So, cover everything!

Cheers,

Zach

[Cheechako]

Be sure to pick up one of these too. Economy Roller 3/4 x 3 - Overton's

[Steve Bean]

Keep acetone, epoxy, grinding dust, and all other toxic stuff away from your skin, eyes, lungs. Read and follow safety procedures that come with the products.

[Dorsilfin]

Thanks for all the feedback folks! greatly appreciated.

[guyrj33]

three layers of bi-axial will be overkill, a single layer of bi-axial material will be more than enough material.
Do use thickened epoxy to fill holes and to fillet the corners into a rounded shape before laying down the glass.
Do coat the plywood with straight epoxy before laying down the glass.
Have everything ready to go and apply the next phase or layer before the previous has fully cured, this allows the layers to form chemical bonds between them.

[mholtzberg]

In you pictures I could not see if you have a chain locker drain? +1 on drying out the wood until no more moisture to effect the layup on the fiberglass. If you have an anchor locker drain ensure the area slopes towards it. This also allows you to rinse your chain of salt water, dirt, and slime when cleaning the chain and rode.

[Dorsilfin]

Originally Posted by mholtzberg

In you pictures I could not see if you have a chain locker drain? +1 on drying out the wood until no more moisture to effect the layup on the fiberglass. If you have an anchor locker drain ensure the area slopes towards it. This also allows you to rinse your chain of salt water, dirt, and slime when cleaning the chain and rode.

It sure does, there is a drain hole in the front heading through the bow. Going to see if I need to add something to the wood to make it all slope forward but I see the point of having it drain and not just pool up in there.

[topcar]

My gut feeling is that epoxy is overkill... it is hard to work with and costs more than the normal polyester resin system. If I was doing this job I would be inclined to see if the plywood could be used as formwark and not to try to integrate it into the laminate. If you really want to integrate the ply then the plywood has to be 100% dry and should be primed with polyester resin which is thinned out 10-15% with styrene monomer (NOT ACETONE) and also has a small 5% of promoter added to the mix. The styrene helps the resin to penetrate the surface of the ply and the promoter accelerates the set-off of the resin. These materials are available at most suppliers.
The first layer of glass can then go right onto the resin primer. Use light weight chopped strand matt for the first layer and let it go off. Use a disc roller to roll it out. When this first layer has gone off (15-30 minutes) you can check for any bubbles or air pockets. Grind any of these out and you can then apply some more matt layers... this time use a medium weight matt. I would not bother using woven cloth but you can integrate a layer into the build up. It is best to sandwich any woven matt betweeen layers of chopped strand.
You will require twice the weight of resin to matt.
If you are going to apply new layers over old laminate it is best to rough sand the original fibreglass to provide a key and apply styrene monomer to activate and prepare the original laminate. Use acetone as a cleaning agent ONLY.
I think a total of three layers should be ample. Add extra reinforcment along the corners. Add waxed styrene to the final layer of laminate to keep air out so the resin will go off and not be sticky. If you want it to look nice then brush on a layer of flowcoat to give a coloured finish. Flowcoat is simply gelcoat resin with added wax. If using a flow coat do NOT add wax to the final laminate layer.
This job should be strong enough that the plywood is really irrelevent.

[Dorsilfin]

I ended up using the marine epoxy /fiberglass kit from lowes for price/ I just needed something to work right now.

It doesnt look pretty, but I was able to lay out some epoxy and work the fiberglass into it then coat/slather on some more. Its all channeled up to the drain hole and while it looks like a complete amateur did it ( ) It seems to have sealed it up and the water drains out without entering the cabin. I might end up doing it all over since it was fairly cheap for the material/epoxy 30 bucks from lowes if and when another leak appears.

I've been out sailing on a boat from a local club racing and having a blast so far and I totally feel the need to go to a bigger boat already so this one might get a nice season or two of sailing and then get sold for bigger, well see what time brings.

Thanks again everyone for your input on this fix.