Hot fiberglass above water heater vent

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Ron comparing boat fiberglass to our fiberglass trailers ? Pat

Originally Posted by brroberts

Fiberglass tangent:

ETI chopper gun

Boat mat and roving and much thicker even on the small sailboat I have now.

Bayliner boats and many others were/are all made completely with a chopper gun.

High end builders like Sea-Ray, Ranger and Malibu use the chopper gun to lay down the first layer of fiberglass to get around the pattern of woven roving from showing under the layer of gelcoat.

Good To Know Fiberglass Boat Techniques

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYb_UjgJ5E0

For comparison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi6_KR_n_As

[brroberts]

Yes the first layer is / was sometimes chopper for various reasons.

Bayliners have a reputation for their level of construction quality based partly on the amount of chopper gun layup. I mentioned no decent quality boat would be a chopper gun layup. I didn’t say cheap boats weren’t. I also said it works depending on intended use. The point was and is, decent quality boats have a different layup schedule including those like SeaRay for one example. Bayliners and Escapes are fine if used in a manner for their intended purposes, but when the weather got rough, my buddy and I didn’t take his Bayliner, we took my Vindo built boat. I don’t consider my Escape to be a cheap boat or RV.

Incidentally, my Bigfoot had a thinner fiberglass layup than the Escape in most areas, and I only had to repair one small crack in it. It’s about layup schedule and intended use. I knew how an Escape was built before I bought it, as I also knew how my other fiberglass boats and RV’s were built before I bought them too. I mentioned the canoe for flat water only. It would have been destroyed in whitewater. We had an ABS / foam core canoe for that which was a pain on flat water.

I am not a great fiberglass person. I hate working with it. But I have had to do small boat and RV repairs, and have built a fiberglass covered observatory dome. That’s why I know I’m not very good at it.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by brroberts

We had an ABS / foam core canoe for that which was a pain on flat water.

Because of the length and hull shape. A dump truck is a pain for shopping at the mall. Nothing to do with the material it's made of.

[brroberts]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Because of the length and hull shape. A dump truck is a pain for shopping at the mall. Nothing to do with the material it's made of.

Yep, I didn’t explain why, but the hull design was the issue.

[gbaglo]

Old Town Otter.
Heavy too.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by brroberts

Yes the first layer is / was sometimes chopper for various reasons.

B

Not sometimes to my knowledge. Always. And it doesn't matter whether it's hand laid mat or chopped strand from a chopper gun. Mat serves two functions.

One, it's 100% in contact with the gelcoat. If you put fabric, especially woven roving directly on the gelcoat there would be voids and weak spots leading to failure of the gelcoat.

Two, the thickness of the mat necessary is determined by the fabric going over it. Cloth requires less thickness of mat to avoid print through than heavy woven roving does.

I used to love using the chopper gun with a crew. The first part of the trigger squeeze puts out only hissing air. Anyone in your way magically gets out of your way in a hurry.

Ron

[brroberts]

I’ve never run a chopper gun, just made it by hand for small things.

Do you know how print through is handled with resin infusion? I don’t.

I’ll cycle the water heater a few more times before I leave to check the gelcoat temps. I don’t have graphics to worry about.

[Sean Murry]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

I just cut a piece of aluminum with tin snips, filed it smooth, bent it in a vice, and riveted it on. This perspective accentuates the slightly crooked line of rivets, but I swear it generally looks better than this in person.

Thinking of doing the same thing as you did. What measurements is your heat deflector?

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by Sean Murry

Thinking of doing the same thing as you did. What measurements is your heat deflector?

8" wide, 2.5" tall with 1" against the door and 1.5" kicked out on the bend.

[Sean Murry]

Thank you. Now to my tin snips.

[brroberts]

Thanks for the dimensional measurements. That will save time when needed.