Saturday, January 2, 2016

Fiberglass Boat Building


Fiberglass is one of the most popular materials for building boats and it has become more commonly used in recent times, even more so than wood or metal largely due to its diversity and simplicity of use. Fiberglass is strong, simple to maintain, and won’t rot or be consumed by harmful termites.

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One method of fiberglass boat building is to first construct a very good mold. This ought to be the mirror image of the hull and is known as a plug, or copy of a hull. Many of such molds are produced employing an existing hull from a good quality boat with a suitable hull shape. Once you have a decent solid plug or mold, you can easily duplicate numerous hulls. The method is fairly involved and needs careful planning and a comprehensive set of instructions. Due to the comparatively high cost of constructing molds, this process is generally best suited for quantity manufacturing.

There are other methods which make it realistic to construct just one boat using fiberglass supplies, including fiberglass planking and sandwich core. In fiberglass planking, dry fiberglass fabric is connected to the frame, then saturated with resin. Additional layers are added to give the hull thickness as the preceding layer dries. Sandwich core, sometimes known as foam-sandwich, is the process where PVC foam acts as a core. Fiberglass material and resin are then put on to each side. You may also use these materials and apply them to a preexisting boat. If done correctly, these methods produce boats that oftentimes exceed the standard of factory made boats.

Fiberglass procedure

The main drawback to using fiberglass will be the various health risks which can be associated with inhaling the fiber dust during the construction process. Also be aware that working with these types of materials is very dangerous and may be a fire hazard. Mixing catalyst as well as accelerator together can cause an explosion. There is a precise process to mixing the materials, so you have to measure carefully.

Finding a very precise guide that covers all of the steps and the mixing processes is among the most critical parts of constructing a fiberglass boat.