Re: fiberglassing tortoise

I forgot to mention that it seems considerably easier to fiberglass a
flat plywood board lying horizontally across sawhorses than to
fiberglass on the boat. If you're worried about making it too stiff, I
bet 1 oz glass would give the weatherproofing, tho of course it's not
going to resist dings as well. You can also make it considerably less
stiff by orienting the weave at 45 degrees to the bend direction.
Might waste a bit of material and require overlaps, tho.

It might be better just to build it with the framing on the inside, or
just eliminate the (some, ie chine) framing and go all stitch and glue
with filleted joints. A preglassed panel may be too stiff to bend to
the bottom curve.

On Tuesday, March 28, 2006, at 08:05 AM,bolger@yahoogroups.comwrote:

> Message: 8
> Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 10:58:31 -0500
> From:sportofmtl@...
> Subject: Re: Re: Fiberglassing Tortoise
>
> We intend to build Tortoise for use as a tender to our Sabre 28. The
> design's dimensions are such that it should fit neatly inverted on the
> cabin top and, if built with a removeable stern transom, should double
> as a hard dodger when not being towed...i.e. most of the time.
> This brings me to my question: Since the boat will spend most of its
> time inverted in the Florida sun, we want to fiberglass the exterior;
> probably with 4oz cloth & epoxy. The design calls for the framing
> outside the hull, so can we fiberglass the 1/4" plywood before we cut
> the parts and assemble the boat successfully? Will the
> fiberglass/epoxy (especially the bottom) give when being bent into
> place?
> Tom Cason- sunny Central FL
>
>