Covering plywood with fiberglass

[steveinak]

Ok i'm going to do my split house addition with plywood covered with fiberglass, my question is what is the correct way to do the edges of the plywood. Do i route/sand a radius on the edges and wrap a strip of mat around the edge and then cover the rest of the plywood with mat or do i leave the edges square and layup a narrow strip of mat on the flat edge and cut/grind it flush with the edge after it goes off/hardens then just butt up the mat covering the rest of the plywood. I'll be doing 2 coats of gelcote over the mat to finish things off. I only want to do this once so please set me straight on doing this the right way.

 

[traditions]

Steve,I split the wheel house in my old wooden boat 18 years ago,and I just resin coated the glass and gelled it.It held up fine for years.All you need to do is keep the water out,and hot coaating and gell will do just that,and be lighter,just my opinion.If I was going to glass it with mat I would radius the edges and glass them first with 2 layers of ounce and a half,then do the flats seperate.Are you making removable panels,or glassing them in place?

 

[tunaorlater]

What I would do is round the corner as much as possible. Then tape the corner with 1708 6 inch tape then matt on the rest of the wood. Kinda heavy but solid as a rock.

 

[F/V First Team]

Use a router, radius what you can with that and finish up by hand. I usually just use my big grinder for rounding edges on big pieces, but with a router you can have it already done when you put it up in place. Hard edges and fiberglass aren't the best of friends most of the time. There are many pilot houses in canada that are just 3 layers of mat. Hold up well apparently. I'd put some structure on everything, panel faces and the corners for sure, feather your mat and overlay while you're working the wet edge.

 

[steveinak]

Steve,I split the wheel house in my old wooden boat 18 years ago,and I just resin coated the glass and gelled it.It held up fine for years.All you need to do is keep the water out,and hot coaating and gell will do just that,and be lighter,just my opinion.If I was going to glass it with mat I would radius the edges and glass them first with 2 layers of ounce and a half,then do the flats seperate.Are you making removable panels,or glassing them in place?

Yup i'm going to make the panels removable so if i need access to the right side of the engine i can just remove the panels.

 

[steveinak]

Thanks for the advice guys, my plan was to round over all the square edges tape them first then do the bigger flat areas last.

 

[unclefish]

steve is this what you are looking for

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/attachments/f5/10796d1253410759-joining-plywood-plywood-joint.jpg

 

[unclefish]

I have built some nice framed rounded corner boxs like this round the edge of a 2 by then rabbit the 2 leading edges the thickness of your plywood .makes a nice rounded corner for glass to go around

 

[F/V First Team]

Thanks for the advice guys, my plan was to round over all the square edges tape them first then do the bigger flat areas last.

You will save SO MUCH frustration if you lay your panels down flat and glass the entire surface, that way when you put them in place you only need to do your corners. Get gravity to work with you.

 

[MDI45]

You will save SO MUCH frustration if you lay your panels down flat and glass the entire surface, that way when you put them in place you only need to do your corners. Get gravity to work with you.

Steve ,i would take his advise...maybe you could glass your plywood then just screw them in place and remove them if needed??

 

[steveinak]

You will save SO MUCH frustration if you lay your panels down flat and glass the entire surface, that way when you put them in place you only need to do your corners. Get gravity to work with you.

Thats what i was going to do, i can set up a table in my shop/barn and do one side at a time. Its still been cold out, 0 degrees this morning, so working in the heated shop is the only way i can get this done soon.

 

[steveinak]

Steve ,i would take his advise...maybe you could glass your plywood then just screw them in place and remove them if needed??[/QUOT

My plan was to do the panels flat and i'm going to use aluminum angle to bolt the panels to. I'll take pictures once i get going for you guys to see.