Just found this stuff on Ebay. $ 44.00 for 1/2 gallon resin and 1/2 gallon hardner + 24.00 freight. I am looking for something to repair fish box lid ans gas tank hatch cover on my 1990 V-20 cuddy. I have already taken both apart and have stripped out the rotten plywood. I am planning to use 3/4 exterior plywood and the epoxy resin to recore the fish box lid ( both sides of fiberglas in good shape ) and 3/4 plywood with 3 layers of 10 oz mat under gas tank hatch cover unless any one has better ( less expensive ) ideas. Thanks for any suggestions
Has anybody used Max Bond Epoxy ??
- Thread starter 99160fish
- Start date
reelapeelin
God
Right off the bat, I wanna tell ya I know NOTHING about fiberglassing...but I face the same project you describe about your gas tank hatch cover...mine gives like a freakin' trampoline...I have the resin and glass ready when this heatwave breaks...
What thickness was the wood core that came OUT of the lid?...reason I ask is the 3/4" wood plus 3 layers of glass....I wonder if yer not putting it back too thick and going to interfere w/fittings, shut-off, etc...
The plywood squares that came out measured just over 3/4". Of course they had grown some due to absorbing water. The fiberglass mat would only be over the center of the fuel tank hatch. There is a 1 1/2" lip around outside edge that does not have wood core. Seems to be plenty of room between tank and bottom of hatch. I am curious as to which would be stronger - cutting plywood into 10" squares as Wellcraft did and using more resin or leaving plywood as a single piece ?? Right now I am leaning towards one single piece of plywood. Have not got fish box lid apart yet so do not know for sure about plywood thickness that is in there. About the only thing holding fish box lid together is the hinge screws.
reelapeelin
God
Glad to hear original was 3/4"...sounds like plenty of clearance....I'm goin' back w/a single piece...
Skools Out
God
I made my gas tank hatch out of regular untreated plywood. Top sheet was 3/8ths or whatever the thickness is of the drop of the deck. Then I cut a piece 1" smaller all the way around and used some stainless screws to screw it on the underside of the top piece. This bottom piece (screwed and resined in) made the piece VERY strong. I rounded the edges with a router to make it nice but didn't need to. I also cut an access hole for the fuel sending unit (which I've ended up using a couple of times 
)
Then I bought a gallon of marine resin from a Auto Body paint supply store down here (Ben's Paint Supply in Orlando). It was roughly $35 for the gallon AND hardener. I bought a fiberglass cloth the apporximate size of the lid (I had a few pieces to do so I bought extra) and trimmed it with scissors to fit nicely. Then I laid it all out and "painted" the mixed resin over the cloth and over the rest of the cover, one side at a time. Gave it a day or so per side to dry and I went back and gave both sides multiple coat to build some thickness.
The cover came out really nice. Cool thing is you can use cheap plywood to do it with since it will be waterproof. If you want to use nicer stuff you obviously can. I WOULD NOT use treated plywood though. Fiberglassing stuff is actually lots easier then I thought.
If anybody has any questions, I would be happy to help out.
The picture I am going to attempt to attach is of the traingle floor cover that I may for the front of my center console. Exactly the same process as the fule tank cover. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it while I was building it. Hopefully this helps though.
)Then I bought a gallon of marine resin from a Auto Body paint supply store down here (Ben's Paint Supply in Orlando). It was roughly $35 for the gallon AND hardener. I bought a fiberglass cloth the apporximate size of the lid (I had a few pieces to do so I bought extra) and trimmed it with scissors to fit nicely. Then I laid it all out and "painted" the mixed resin over the cloth and over the rest of the cover, one side at a time. Gave it a day or so per side to dry and I went back and gave both sides multiple coat to build some thickness.
The cover came out really nice. Cool thing is you can use cheap plywood to do it with since it will be waterproof. If you want to use nicer stuff you obviously can. I WOULD NOT use treated plywood though. Fiberglassing stuff is actually lots easier then I thought.
If anybody has any questions, I would be happy to help out.
The picture I am going to attempt to attach is of the traingle floor cover that I may for the front of my center console. Exactly the same process as the fule tank cover. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it while I was building it. Hopefully this helps though.
Attachments
Skools Out
God
go to a local boat builder i buy resin from them locally for $13.78 a gal including harder that price does change but that was 2 months ago.
Skools Out
God
17.90 a gal for epoxy but you really don't need epoxy resin if you are good with glass.
I have not done very much glass work but my main complaint with poly resin is the fast set up time. Every time I have used it I feel I have to rush to get it spread. Sometimes the rushing compromises my finished product.
Skools Out
God
don't add so much hardener, what i use doesn't need hardener to set up but i usually add just enough to give my 30 min work time per batch. the resin i use has to be refriged to keep stored otherwise it will set us in the gal jug over time.
Got fish box cover apart and found out it was cored with 1/2" plywood squares. I have a piece of pressure treated 1/2" that has been dying in my shop for 3 years that I am going to use for that and now I am thinking that the gas tank hatch will get that also and just laminate one or 2 more layers of glass to make up the difference in thickness. Skools, there is no local boat builder here in the mountains of VA so I can"t get the deal you get on resin. Also I thought I would use epoxy resin because of the better adhesion properties would make a stronger fish box cover as I was able to save both upper and lower halfs. So basically I am just glueing that back together with a piece of plywood in the middle. thanks for any suggestions.