I’m going to be sheathing the decks and bilges with glass and epoxy for a bit more durability. This is a job that I should have done last year when I built the boat but I scrimped on cost a little and didn’t bother :s
The current deck consists of 6mm Robbins Elite Marine Ply varnished with Jotun Hardtop AS Clear, which is a two pack polyurethane clear coat. I was pretty happy with the results and will probably use this again over the epoxy, originally it had about 6 rollered coats the final one of which was flatted and polished.
This was the result first time around.
After a season of use however the grain is beginning to show through and there are the usual bumps and scrapes along the edges as well that need repairing, hopefully the epoxy and glass will provide much more durability than the existing finish.
The Process
The first stage was to remove all the fittings which proved quite a task as they were all bedded down with marine sealant. Also the windscreen had to be removed before the deck could be prepped. I lightly sanded the existing finish with an 80 grit disc on a DA sander to key it and wiped down the whole surface with acetone to remove any dust and dirt. Next I laid out and cut to shape the glass cloth (135gsm plain weave) and applied the first layer of resin by pouring it on and working it in with a spreader. I’m using West System 105/205 (fast) resin because its quite cold in my workshop and the fast resin is better suited to lower temperatures. I then applied another coat of resin to fill the weave and some of the low spots, I will do another coat of resin before I flat it off and start the varnish but heres a stop motion video up to this stage to show how I’ve done it.
Thanks for reading, I’ll post another blog showing the final finishing stages up to polishing when it’s done.
Building Boats 
October 19, 2012 at 11:27 pm
Great job. That iPad worked ok. The Brinno is pretty convenient though. Beautiful finish.