I am getting ready to glass the TrueAmes keel fins onto my epoxy/eps fish. I have them tacked in place with 5min epoxy right now. I have looked at the archives and it some other sources such as the Greenlight DVDs and seems like a big range on how fins can be glassed on. For example, Greenlights dvds show them held in place with just epoxy fillets on each side of the fin. Other posts indicate multiple layers of glass all the way up the fin.
These TrueAmes fins I have look nice and with a gloss coat will look great, so I dont really want to glass all the way up the fins. I am putting it on the lam layers before the hotcoat. Will I have decent strength if I use rope along the length of the base as well as a 4-6 oz strip going about 1" up the base of the fin with a decent fillet or will this just be to weak and prone to snapping offon a turn?
Myself, I've always used a couple of layers of glass over the fin rope, which I use as a fillet, for repairs .And they never came off without something like a car crash to make 'em come off. But that's been mostly with poly resin, your mileage may vary with epoxy.
Plus, keel fins will have less of a moment arm ( lever) than standard glass-ons and they're somewhat wider/thicker - though they have more area. Still a toss-up. I think you could get away with the single band of glass, just I tend towards overkill.
One thing, I'm guessing that the fins themselves are made with poly resin rather than epoxy, so I suspect you'll want to sand them lightly to give a sure bond with the epoxy.
Thanks for the reply, yeah, I am using RR epoxy, and that makes sense to sand the fins well for good adhesion. I will try to attach a photo with this so you can see what the fins look like.
You will never get a crystal clear fin fillet with epoxy, so just be for warned about that. The reason is that epoxy is too thick, and you work it too much to be gin clear.
Anyway. I put a cloth layer on the deck and up the side of the fin in between every layer of fin rope. So you put about a pencils diameter of fin rope down, then cover it with a layer of glass. Then put another course of fin rope, and put another glass layer over the top of that. If it's a big fin do it again. Wait for it to kick and sand it all pretty and hotcoat...sand it again then gloss the board.
I was able to get away without adding a fillet by using Bill Thrailkill's technique of cutting the glass cloth on a 45 degree bias. It was my first time glassing on fins with epoxy. My execution wasn't the best, and there were a few little bubbles under the lam. They feel really solid on the board, however.
