I’m repairing a nasty tail ding and I could use some advice on the process of wrapping the glass for this particular shape. I still have to put some qcell on to clean up the outline but the fracture is right where the hard rail meets the bottom. My biggest concern is folds in the glass from wrapping it around the curve. Should I cut the fold out at the stringer, or at two points about 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock? The more continuous the piece of glass, the stronger it will be in the end, right?
I’m going to be using Ding All epoxy; any tips on how to apply it to the whole patch (i.e. both sides of the board) with out it dripping all over the place - or even staying in place in general - would be super helpful. Also, I usually do these repairs outside, but it’s getting cold, here in New Hampshire… Will the cold impede the hardening reaction? Do I need to do it inside?
Rough sand the area to be glassed. One cut at the stringer should do it, or do it in peices, overlapping the patches. Fair edges smooth, and hotcoat. With smaller patches of glass, I find it easier to paint some resin on the board with a cheap artist brush from the art supply store, or even your finger, then lay the dry glass onto the wet areas. Make sure your patches are big enough to stick and lay tight around the edge. Otherwise, they’ll keep poppoing up. Clean up with white vinegar.
So, just paint it onto the board in a nice thin coat - that’s enough to get it to stick and stay in place? After it hardens give it the surface coat, but at first it just needs enough to tack it in place?
I’ve read that most of the strength comes from the glass, so do I not need to worry about there being enough resin saturated in the glass?
+1 wet the cloth out well, but not enough to get runs.
If you’re new at this and you’re worried about the cloth staying put as the epoxy hardens one trick you can do is wait until the resin starts to set up then use a piece of masking tape to hold it in place. A long piece, like 6-8". Lay one end on the deck well inboard of your rail where there’s no resin, over and across the rail and tack it down on the bottom. The tape will hold the cloth tight against the rail so there won’t be any air bubbles or loss of contact before the resin hardens. You’ll want to remove the tape right after the resin hardens but before it starts to really cure, otherwise there might be a little sanding involved. It’s not really the right way to do it but it will cut down on the potential for bubbles and such.
Something I do when laming is once I’ve wrapped the rails, cleaned up and checked it all over is to take a little ‘blob’ of resin on my gloved finger and smear it on the problem area - this ‘flooding’ of resin seems to stop the air creeping in when my back is turned - I do the same with any air on the rails. Works for me.
Cheers
Rich www.thirdshade.com
