Fibreglassing stringers

[bhbestcustoms]

I have a 74 Vector and I am doing a full restore. I am attempting to fiberglass my stringers or beams in and the fiberglass cloth is enveloping the beam with the cloth being fiber-glassed to the floor of the boat up the side of the beam or stringer and over the top and down the other side and attached to the bottom of the boat on the other side. The problem I'm having Is that no matter how hard I try I can't get the air out of the top of the cloth or the top of the stringer. Air bubbles appear on the top and overlap to the sides, almost a mushroom effect. Is this a problem? What should I be doing? I really need your help as I don't want to mess this up. I remember when I tore the core and beams out that it had this same mushrooming effect but maybe whoever did it in the past was making the same mistake I am. I could cut out or grind out these bubbles and redo but, what does everyone else do?

Thanks,
Bradley Harris

[YDOC462]

its almost impossible to do this in one shot ( glass from one side over the top down the other) you can route all edges that you are trying to "bend" around making it easier for the mat to make the turn or just do it in seperate pieces. one up one side. one up the other. let dry, grind excess glass off then glass the top of board.

you can use some cabosil filler to make "inside" turns easier. fill corner with thickened resin, apply mat in area while filler resin is still wet working air out as you go.

hope this helps

[nosboss]

I rounded the top of my stringers to help the glass stay tight against the wood. If you use a router and make a nice perfect rounded top it should flow nicely. I also glassed one side first and pulled it tight(as tight as i could with it all wet) and wet it out as it went over the top and down the other side. Mine isn't perfect, but much better than most i've seen.

[ Post made via Android ]

[bhbestcustoms]

its almost impossible to do this in one shot ( glass from one side over the top down the other) you can route all edges that you are trying to "bend" around making it easier for the mat to make the turn or just do it in seperate pieces. one up one side. one up the other. let dry, grind excess glass off then glass the top of board.

you can use some cabosil filler to make "inside" turns easier. fill corner with thickened resin, apply mat in area while filler resin is still wet working air out as you go.

hope this helps

Thank-you, we have tried this and it is working much better.

Thanks,
Brad

[bhbestcustoms]

I rounded the top of my stringers to help the glass stay tight against the wood. If you use a router and make a nice perfect rounded top it should flow nicely. I also glassed one side first and pulled it tight(as tight as i could with it all wet) and wet it out as it went over the top and down the other side. Mine isn't perfect, but much better than most i've seen.

[ Post made via Android ]

This makes perfect sense and I wish I had thought of rounding the edges before I got this far.
Thank-you for your help!

Brad