Linda Lou is on the work trailer and one of many projects is to work on the forward hatch. My problem is with the translucent panel. Due to years of exposure and poor resin saturation of the glass mat, I have two areas of dry glass fibers in the center of the hatch. I'm considering cutting out the translucent panel altogether and replacing it with another material. Can anyone offer advice with this? Any other improvements suggested while I have it off the boat?
2mileyc@digitalexp.com
cd25 fwd hatch improvement question
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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K merson
Re: cd25 fwd hatch improvement question
Had a similair problem. I removed the decorative wood from the foward hatch and placed a piece of lexan over the front hatch and it looks great. It was simple and reinforced the front hatch.Greg Phillips wrote: Linda Lou is on the work trailer and one of many projects is to work on the forward hatch. My problem is with the translucent panel. Due to years of exposure and poor resin saturation of the glass mat, I have two areas of dry glass fibers in the center of the hatch. I'm considering cutting out the translucent panel altogether and replacing it with another material. Can anyone offer advice with this? Any other improvements suggested while I have it off the boat?
Give it a try.
kmerson@avaloninternet.net
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Jon
Re: cd25 fwd hatch improvement question
Jim Myers did exactly that on Fair Wind. He put a solar vent on to boot! You can take a look on his boat's web page, linked below.
Cheers,
Jon
s/v Sovereign
CD25 #625
Cheers,
Jon
s/v Sovereign
CD25 #625
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JimL
Re: cd25 fwd hatch improvement question
Here's an idea for your hatch repair. First read my post under "CD25 Halyards" led aft, re: seahood strength. I'm refinishing my front hatch, as opaque non-skid, using the method described. If you want to keep the translucent AND have it non-skid, here's a way.
1. Cut out the bad area, and make an exact fit plug out of 1/4" foam board (paper covered stuff at the office supply).
2. Cut curved ribs, to bend the foam board to correct curve, and hot glue in place (bottom of plug). See the link listed below, under The Work of Jim Leininger, major plastic repair, for a method of duplicating curved or compound curved surfaces.
3. Cover your plug, top side, with wax paper (lapped past the edges) and hot glue in place from the bottom (a few glue spots will do). Trim the wax paper flush with the bottom edge, then tape the seam, from the bottom, with duct tape (to keep resin from leaking through). Duct tape sticky side peels right off of the resin, after cure.
4. Lay up glass cloth, as described in "seahood strength", and finish for non-skid or smooth, as desired, using polyester resin with surfacing agent (2% styrene wax liquid). Cut your pieces of wooden yard stick/wax paper to exactly fit, and have plenty of clamps ready. The result will be a smooth upper surround, with a translucent non-skid area in the middle!
5. Paint the edges with polyurethane, if you stay with translucent.
6. Strip out the foamboard plug and peel away the wax paper.
I used a similar method to build a new "perfect fit" floor board. I hot glued a foam board plug in the bilge hole, layed in a sheet of wax paper, then layed up the board with glass cloth and foam board strips for core. Resin permeates the paper of the foam board, and makes a "foam cored" part! You can make all kinds of exotic shapes using foam board, hot glue gun, fiberglass cloth, and epoxy or polyester resin. Keep in mind, polyester resin tends to shrink large flats into hollows, but epoxy resin matches shape exactly. Foam board can even be shaped into curves and hollows by cutting one side of the paper with many razor slices! It's so cheap, you can completely build and test fit a part, before using any resin.
My apologies to all for the long post, but this foam board build method has been very successful for my son's and I. We've used it to build everything from custom car speaker boxes, to center consoles, and bait tanks! I'm thinking about a bolt-in "bridge deck" for old #21. Perhaps with a slide-out sea toilet, that stores inverted and has it's back as the flat finish panel facing the cockpit. Or....it may be a propane compartment....hmmm, there's a thought.
leinfam@earthlink.net
1. Cut out the bad area, and make an exact fit plug out of 1/4" foam board (paper covered stuff at the office supply).
2. Cut curved ribs, to bend the foam board to correct curve, and hot glue in place (bottom of plug). See the link listed below, under The Work of Jim Leininger, major plastic repair, for a method of duplicating curved or compound curved surfaces.
3. Cover your plug, top side, with wax paper (lapped past the edges) and hot glue in place from the bottom (a few glue spots will do). Trim the wax paper flush with the bottom edge, then tape the seam, from the bottom, with duct tape (to keep resin from leaking through). Duct tape sticky side peels right off of the resin, after cure.
4. Lay up glass cloth, as described in "seahood strength", and finish for non-skid or smooth, as desired, using polyester resin with surfacing agent (2% styrene wax liquid). Cut your pieces of wooden yard stick/wax paper to exactly fit, and have plenty of clamps ready. The result will be a smooth upper surround, with a translucent non-skid area in the middle!
5. Paint the edges with polyurethane, if you stay with translucent.
6. Strip out the foamboard plug and peel away the wax paper.
I used a similar method to build a new "perfect fit" floor board. I hot glued a foam board plug in the bilge hole, layed in a sheet of wax paper, then layed up the board with glass cloth and foam board strips for core. Resin permeates the paper of the foam board, and makes a "foam cored" part! You can make all kinds of exotic shapes using foam board, hot glue gun, fiberglass cloth, and epoxy or polyester resin. Keep in mind, polyester resin tends to shrink large flats into hollows, but epoxy resin matches shape exactly. Foam board can even be shaped into curves and hollows by cutting one side of the paper with many razor slices! It's so cheap, you can completely build and test fit a part, before using any resin.
My apologies to all for the long post, but this foam board build method has been very successful for my son's and I. We've used it to build everything from custom car speaker boxes, to center consoles, and bait tanks! I'm thinking about a bolt-in "bridge deck" for old #21. Perhaps with a slide-out sea toilet, that stores inverted and has it's back as the flat finish panel facing the cockpit. Or....it may be a propane compartment....hmmm, there's a thought.
leinfam@earthlink.net
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JimL
Re: oops, here's how to see the other site
On a search from Yahoo (or whatever), go to "Johns Classic Bikes & Cars". Look at The Work of Jim Leininger, under "major plastic repair". That's where you'll see how to duplicate shapes, plus how I rebuilt a friends badly damaged motorcycle fairing. Hope this is useful for somebody.