# Fiberglassing



## Capnredfish (Feb 1, 2012)

As in anything new I do, just get the materials and do it. Have plenty of acetone and gloves around. Pratice with some chop strand matt and lay some up on scrap cardboard or wood just to get used to rollling it out. Try glassing a block of wood, that will test your patience at first. As for gel, similar to mixing resin. Just use the wax additive so it cures. I like to use small wax paper cups for small batch mixing of resin/gel. The little Preval sprayers work well just placing the pickup into the cup of gel. Just thin it a bit with acetone. It is easy and rewarding work but becoming quick and not wasting material takes practice. If you ever watch someone good at it you will be impressed.


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## CurtisWright (May 9, 2012)

I went to a glass shop with a project and asked if I could work with them while they did it to learn. It cost me $1200 for 2 days of work and materials. As a tip, i gave the guy a 75qt yeti to say thanks for taking the time to teach me.

I guarantee the $1500 the experience cost me has saved twice that much in would be screw ups over the past few years. The yeti was the best part. That so far has produced free advice and occasional one on one help from my new professional glasser friend.


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

lawlmens said:


> Curious as to how all of you learned how to do fiberglassing? I've been looking into buying a little cheap POS boat / gheenoe and watching a lot of youtube to learn how to do some glass work to where i will eventually feel confident enough to do some minor repairs on my own skiff. Any info / tips would be appreciated!


My first foray into glass was replacing a rotten front deck on an old boat. After that, I just built a boat. Watch or read the bateau.com instructional stuff repeatedly for each step and then mix small batches and proceed slowly and carefully. Ply and epoxy are easy to learn. Other stuff might be harder to learn, but I haven't used it so I don't know.

Nate


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## lawlmens (Apr 7, 2015)

Thanks for all the great answers, I've been looking around there isn't many fiberglass shops near me to see if i could pay someone to redo my boat as well as shadow over them / hands on help to learn from an experienced person for future references. I may try small batches at a time on plywood to see if i can get it to cure right with resin / hardner and sand it down smooth enough etc. I have been watching and looking at some stuff online, theres quite a bit to grasp at once to try to get started.


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

Just cannonball in to the middle of the ******* and figure it out from there. Mucking around with scraps is okay once or twice, but you need to build something to learn how the stuff works in the real world. I'd recommend one of the very simple builds like Bateau's cheap canoe (free plans), but honestly you could simply build a big stitch and glue plywood tool chest using exterior luan ply, sheath the outside in glass and get the same experience. 

Nate


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## lawlmens (Apr 7, 2015)

I don't ever plan to build my own hulls, just do minor fiberglass work on my own skiff to save myself money, or if i ever decided to pick up a project hull, i would know how to restore it.


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

Just build a box of any sort that you need. The techniques are the same.

Nate


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## jonrconner (May 20, 2015)

It's just not all that complicated, do your reading, watch the YouTube stuff and then ferchrissakes make sure you get the mix right and then mix it enough and you'll be in business.
JC


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