# Cored Under- Gunnel Rod Holders



## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

ZaneD said:


> I have pretty limited glass fabrication experience so bear with me here - I want to remove the existing plastic rod holders under the gunnel of my skiff, and replace with glassed-in holders, I just have a couple of questions.
> 
> 1. Does anyone have a recommendation for a core material that will give me about 1.5" of thickness, without spending a lot of $$$ on a large sheet of foam, coosa, etc?
> 
> ...


Sometimes rod holders are also gunnel supports, if this is NOT the case, and all you want to do is hold up rods, you can use the blue foam from the box store. It's not that expensive and won't melt with epoxy.

I have never tried the blue stuff with polyester resin though, and it may melt. Maybe someone on here can send you a few scraps of carbon core from all these conchfish builds??


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## Fishtex (May 10, 2014)

Check with a local boatyard/repair place and see if they have some small scrap sections of Divinycell or similar. Heck, somebody here probably has some. You might find some small pieces on eBay. 

Just in case it matters, epoxy is far better for strength for secondary bonding situations like this. I know a lot of repair guys use epoxy for all repairs on poly/glass hulls for this reason. And you can get gel coat to work with epoxy, it’s all about the prep. 

Good luck!


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

ZaneD said:


> I have pretty limited glass fabrication experience so bear with me here - I want to remove the existing plastic rod holders under the gunnel of my skiff, and replace with glassed-in holders, I just have a couple of questions.
> 
> 1. Does anyone have a recommendation for a core material that will give me about 1.5" of thickness, without spending a lot of $$$ on a large sheet of foam, coosa, etc?
> 
> ...


do they support the gunnels ?


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## ZaneD (Feb 28, 2017)

anytide said:


> do they support the gunnels ?


The short answer is yes. The existing rod holders do not, but the gunnels have a slight flex when you walk on them, so I would like to add glassed in holders to add some support.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

ZaneD said:


> The short answer is yes. The existing rod holders do not, but the gunnels have a slight flex when you walk on them, so I would like to add glassed in holders to add some support.


Are these the molded plastic kind?

Add a pic


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

yobata said:


> Sometimes rod holders are also gunnel supports, if this is NOT the case, and all you want to do is hold up rods, you can use the blue foam from the box store. It's not that expensive and won't melt with epoxy.
> 
> I have never tried the blue stuff with polyester resin though, and it may melt. Maybe someone on here can send you a few scraps of carbon core from all these conchfish builds??


The blue stuff will not melt with epoxy but it has a thin plastic film on both sides that has to be peeled off.


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## ZaneD (Feb 28, 2017)

DuckNut said:


> The blue stuff will not melt with epoxy but it has a thin plastic film on both sides that has to be peeled off.


After a little bit of checking around, I can get a sheet of Urethane foam from Fiberglass Florida fairly inexpensive. Will this work for my application, or should I stick with something like Air-Cell (or something else)?

Secondly, will using poly resin create a reliable bond to the hull/ underside of the gunnel, or will it be necessary to use epoxy? As mentioned above, the gunnel doesn't need support necessarily, but I want the new rod holders to bond everything together and reinforce it. After this project is complete I plan to roll fresh gelcoat in the entire cockpit, so using epoxy was a concern.

The skiff is a Mitzi, so the factory rod holders were just a white starboard type material glued to the hull. One was already broken when I got the boat so I removed them and sanded the area clean for a fresh start.


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## Fishtex (May 10, 2014)

ZaneD said:


> After a little bit of checking around, I can get a sheet of Urethane foam from Fiberglass Florida fairly inexpensive. Will this work for my application, or should I stick with something like Air-Cell (or something else)?
> 
> Secondly, will using poly resin create a reliable bond to the hull/ underside of the gunnel, or will it be necessary to use epoxy? As mentioned above, the gunnel doesn't need support necessarily, but I want the new rod holders to bond everything together and reinforce it. After this project is complete I plan to roll fresh gelcoat in the entire cockpit, so using epoxy was a concern.
> 
> The skiff is a Mitzi, so the factory rod holders were just a white starboard type material glued to the hull. One was already broken when I got the boat so I removed them and sanded the area clean for a fresh start.


That urethane foam they sell looks like an insulation type foam not structural. I’d call them and ask. Polyester resin should be ok as long as it’s compatible with the fabric and core you choose. 

They have Aircell foam core which is fairly cost effective and compatible with polyester. A lot of suppliers sell half sheets of core.

Another thought is to get some marine plywood and epoxy. Cover with a light cloth, fair, prime and paint. It would be cheap and fast.


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## Fishtex (May 10, 2014)

Fishtex said:


> That urethane foam they sell looks like an insulation type foam not structural. I’d call them and ask. Polyester resin should be ok as long as it’s compatible with the fabric and core you choose.
> 
> They have Aircell foam core which is fairly cost effective and compatible with polyester. A lot of suppliers sell half sheets of core.
> 
> Another thought is to get some marine plywood and epoxy. Cover with a light cloth, fair, prime and paint. It would be cheap and fast.


Just a thought, A great source for materials and help, https://boatbuildercentral.com/wp/
They are in Ft Pierce. I’d call them up and run your situation by them. Also, If you post your project in the boat repair section of their forum you’ll get a lot of real good feedback.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

ZaneD said:


> After a little bit of checking around, I can get a sheet of Urethane foam from Fiberglass Florida fairly inexpensive. Will this work for my application, or should I stick with something like Air-Cell (or something else)?
> 
> Secondly, will using poly resin create a reliable bond to the hull/ underside of the gunnel, or will it be necessary to use epoxy? As mentioned above, the gunnel doesn't need support necessarily, but I want the new rod holders to bond everything together and reinforce it. After this project is complete I plan to roll fresh gelcoat in the entire cockpit, so using epoxy was a concern.
> 
> The skiff is a Mitzi, so the factory rod holders were just a white starboard type material glued to the hull. One was already broken when I got the boat so I removed them and sanded the area clean for a fresh start.


If your going to support the cap then you need to make these strong and the core is not the critical aspect. When you build these the fiberglass skins will be the structural aspect, not the foam.

Poly resin will be fine.

Find a boat yard that is local and see if you can buy some scraps. Another way as stated above is to use a wood that is good with water.


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## clinton (Oct 9, 2011)

ZaneD said:


> I have pretty limited glass fabrication experience so bear with me here - I want to remove the existing plastic rod holders under the gunnel of my skiff, and replace with glassed-in holders, I just have a couple of questions.
> 
> 1. Does anyone have a recommendation for a core material that will give me about 1.5" of thickness, without spending a lot of $$$ on a large sheet of foam, coosa, etc?
> 
> ...


I used iso board foam from the local roofing supply house. (ABC supply). It was only like $18 for a 4x8 sheet. It is 2" thick and I shaped it with a jigsaw and dremmel tool then glassed them. After that I tabbed them in under the gunnels. Solid as a rock. This was on an FS-18 Build.


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## ZaneD (Feb 28, 2017)

clinton said:


> I used iso board foam from the local roofing supply house. (ABC supply). It was only like $18 for a 4x8 sheet. It is 2" thick and I shaped it with a jigsaw and dremmel tool then glassed them. After that I tabbed them in under the gunnels. Solid as a rock. This was on an FS-18 Build.


Great feedback. Did you use poly resin, no issues melting the foam?


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## clinton (Oct 9, 2011)

ZaneD said:


> Great feedback. Did you use poly resin, no issues melting the foam?


No, I used epoxy throughout the whole build.


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## Ebo (Jun 20, 2020)

ZaneD said:


> I have pretty limited glass fabrication experience so bear with me here - I want to remove the existing plastic rod holders under the gunnel of my skiff, and replace with glassed-in holders, I just have a couple of questions.
> 
> 1. Does anyone have a recommendation for a core material that will give me about 1.5" of thickness, without spending a lot of $$$ on a large sheet of foam, coosa, etc?
> 
> ...


I know at this point this post is 2 years old, but how did it turn out? I have a 16' Mitzi and I'm about to do the same thing. I got OEM holders from Mitzi to replace the after market ones the previous owner put on (very half-assed I might add). I'd like to fiberglass them because to me it looks cleaner but at the same time I'm very much a novice and don't want to make a mess or get a bad result. If you have pictures, I'd love to see how it turned out.


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## ZaneD (Feb 28, 2017)

Ebo said:


> I know at this point this post is 2 years old, but how did it turn out? I have a 16' Mitzi and I'm about to do the same thing. I got OEM holders from Mitzi to replace the after market ones the previous owner put on (very half-assed I might add). I'd like to fiberglass them because to me it looks cleaner but at the same time I'm very much a novice and don't want to make a mess or get a bad result. If you have pictures, I'd love to see how it turned out.


I don't have any closeups, but in these pics you can get a pretty good Idea of what I ended up with. I used 1.5" of foam for the core, wrapped in 1708 glass cloth, then glass to the hull and gunnel and gel-coated over. It was pretty easy and this was my first project of this type. After I was done I gel-coated the whole cockpit and installed under gunnel carpet to clean everything up.


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