Baja OL Stringers glass work

[fixxxer22]

I Have been looking through many of the threads for construction and finishing and i am not seeing the dummy "how to fiberglass" instructions. I have been looking alot at jeffs raising the x posts and we had similar baja issues. I do not have pics at the moment but i had rotten stringers in the engine bay. the new boards are in and i used the weather-proof micro-lam. I have a friend that is in new home construction. He said i used a couple hundred dollars of wood in this fix. The transom is solid and dry. No leaks no signs of anything. I am happy for that.

My dad used to be an avid boater and made many repairs. I just think his info may be a little dated. He brought me this woven fibergalss and told me "that is what you use on a boat".

Basically, i do not know how to do fiberglass at all. I need to cover my bare wood and tie it all-together with the existing boat and to it well. I would also like to paint the bildge again to give it a brighter look. So, the fiberglass mat that my dad gave me will not be enough. It is not that tiger hair looking stuff it is organized and woven. All i have to do is the two stringers. They are just double the size now due to the beefing up. What do i need to buy? I have been told that it is very easy to do as long as you learn from someone who knows. I alsno need to install drains in the stringers due to the water that just sits there from prople getting in and out of the boat wet. The water just sits there on the outsides of the engine support stringers until i sop it up or shop vac it up. I need to know how to make a drain and not compromise the integrity of my boat. All i need is the water to drain into the bildge. It is not alot of water and I only see it if we are swimming and jumping in and out of my boat. sop it up and take it out a couple times late season and not swim you will not see any water.

If i cannot be taught over this forum, i understand. But any help would be awesome!

[jeffswav]

Post some pics of your project so everyone can take a look. I used 3/4 pvc pipe for the drains, I drilled a hole to the same OD as the pipe. Cleaned it up with a rotory tool, coated the inside of the hole with resin. Drove the pipe through the hole, then sealed everything up with resin. When water drains it tends to curl under so I cut the pipe little long. I can take a couple more detailed pics if that would help you.
The 1708 seamed to be the best glass to use, I used vinal ester resin. Tab everything in from the stringer to the transom, bulkhead and floor.

[fixxxer22]

Yeah, Took my engine out to get a good look at it and found the port side stringer was indented where the mount rode. I dig out the rotten wood cut out the fiberglass on the top and made a sleeve and installed new wood. but i made the inital stringer in the factory slot shorter then i sistered and glued another board along the stringer from the bulkhead to transom out of micro-lam on the outside of the stringer. And then laid another peice of micro-lam that was the width of the two boards on the 2 new stringers to tie them together and allow the engine to sit on the both of them. I can get pics here soon. I forgot to today. I was working on it all day. and im still itchy. It is 100% stronger than it was... just has no fibergalss on it now.

I really need to know the steps though. where to get the stuff, how to mix it, how clean everything has to be, how long it dries and how to apply it and do it correctly. i have never done it before.

[Trim'd Up]

You need to grind the the existing fiberglass to remove the paint and to give the new resin something to bite into. The flap discs work very well. The time to dry, mixing, and the fiberglass cloth you need depends on what resin you decide to use. You don't really need epoxy but it is the strongest and most expensive. Vinylester is second in strength and cost followed by polyester resin. Polyester is what your boat was built from originally so it is plenty strong. 1708 works well but I think 1208 is a little easier to form around tight bends and corners, but you need more layers to acheive the same strength.
US composites has good prices on material.
http://www.uscomposites.com/specialty.html

[insanity]

+1. The 1208 works a lot better for capping stringers. Rolls over the top a lot better.

You need to grind the the existing fiberglass to remove the paint and to give the new resin something to bite into. The flap discs work very well. The time to dry, mixing, and the fiberglass cloth you need depends on what resin you decide to use. You don't really need epoxy but it is the strongest and most expensive. Vinylester is second in strength and cost followed by polyester resin. Polyester is what your boat was built from originally so it is plenty strong. 1708 works well but I think 1208 is a little easier to form around tight bends and corners, but you need more layers to acheive the same strength.
US composites has good prices on material.
http://www.uscomposites.com/specialty.html

[fixxxer22]

what about the white gel coat? i was told i could just roll it on. Where can i get it. I want to paint the bildge at this time. it is a little rough looking.

[jeffswav]

what about the white gel coat? i was told i could just roll it on. Where can i get it. I want to paint the bildge at this time. it is a little rough looking.

Yea, Baja did not take a lot of pride in the bilge. I did a lot of sanding in the bilge before I put the gel on, I used the gel because I got a good price on 5 gallons and had plenty. If you are only doing the bilge there are several paints that you can use.

[Offshore Ginger]

When , you get ready to do the bilge, and most likely that is a long way out at this time Skip the jell and go with Imron or Awlgrip which is far more superior to solvents and stains because jell will and does stain !! Just a word of mention that when doing the bilge with these paints , three to four coats & one after another per side using a brush , paint , tack ,paint , tack ,paint , tack paint let dry do the other side tomorrow .

[fixxxer22]

Thanks guys! also autozone carries 3m resin and hardener... Any good?

[Offshore Ginger]

Thanks guys! also autozone carries 3m resin and hardener... Any good?

Is there resin Poly , Vinyl , or GP resin and are you sure you want to go with that other then Epoxy which will give you more work time with no stank and 9 times out of 10 the only reason why most people stick with Poly or Vinyl is because they are afraid of change .

[fixxxer22]

I will look for the epoxy. It is said to be expensive above but i do not have a huge ammount to cover. Any places that are not web sites that i should take a look at?

[Offshore Ginger]

I will look for the epoxy. It is said to be expensive above but i do not have a huge ammount to cover. Any places that are not web sites that i should take a look at?

TRIM'D UP ,gave you a great site for those on a buget http://www.uscomposites.com/specialty.html

[fixxxer22]

Yeah i posted first and looked at that site later. I will go with them. Any tricks to ensure a good bond and a job well done?

[Offshore Ginger]

I will look for the epoxy. It is said to be expensive above but i do not have a huge ammount to cover. Any places that are not web sites that i should take a look at?

To tell you the truth the best prices are on the web sites unless you know someone who can get you a better deal . All i have to say is try to show some pics of the work you feel that needs to be done , take your time and cut out all of the rotted wood , buy a Tyvak suit and get ready to grind using 24 or36 grit and hopefully after you have the stringer's out and there is no more rot any where you can get ready to laminate your stringer's back in after everything is prepped and ready to rock . Trust me it will be a walk in the park , after all is said and done...............

[jeffswav]

Yea, like Artie OG said, get a tyvek or similar suite. Get some chemical resistant rubber gloves. Get a resporator not a dust mask, mine was $20. Of course you need safty goggles not glasses. I used a air hammer, rotory tool, DA and of course the air compressor. It is a big mess that is why the pro's get paid well to do it.

[Chris]

One of the greatest areas of concern is secondary bonding- getting new resin to adhere to old resin. A trick an old timer showed me years ago is to soak the surface in MEK. This slightly softens the cured resin and gives the new resin better bite.

Just like paint, your surface needs to be completely clean and free of any grease or oils.

On prep, grind back as far as you can, within reason. Extra tabbing- both in plys and width- never hurt. There's a reason what you had rotted- try and figure out why and address it. For example- many Cigarette 35's end up with rotten transoms and stringers. This is often because one of the trim tab bolts is a lag screw, screwed into the end of a stringer. If the tabs are removed and that screw is not properly resealed, you're going to have problems.

I concur on Awlgrip. It's tough and won't stain. If there are flat areas you stand on, you can sprinkle some 24 grit aluminum oxide on the first wet coat and get a good non-skid surface.

[Chris]

One more thing- gel coat won't stick to epoxy.

[Trim'd Up]

After using epoxy, that's all I will use. More controllable work times with different hardeners and NO FUMES! The only down sides are cost and it is a little harder to wet out because of the viscosity. The 635 resin from US composites isn't to bad on either accout though.

[fixxxer22]

One of the greatest areas of concern is secondary bonding- getting new resin to adhere to old resin. A trick an old timer showed me years ago is to soak the surface in MEK. This slightly softens the cured resin and gives the new resin better bite.

Just like paint, your surface needs to be completely clean and free of any grease or oils.

On prep, grind back as far as you can, within reason. Extra tabbing- both in plys and width- never hurt. There's a reason what you had rotted- try and figure out why and address it. For example- many Cigarette 35's end up with rotten transoms and stringers. This is often because one of the trim tab bolts is a lag screw, screwed into the end of a stringer. If the tabs are removed and that screw is not properly resealed, you're going to have problems.

I concur on Awlgrip. It's tough and won't stain. If there are flat areas you stand on, you can sprinkle some 24 grit aluminum oxide on the first wet coat and get a good non-skid surface.

I found the issue. The engine mounts are drilled and lagged into the stringer. the stringer has no drain and water will sit on the side until it spills over or into the open lag hole of the engine mount. i am going to install drains so it can reach the bildge. all last year i would shop vac it out after every day out on the river. the thing is that it will not have water on those sides of the stringer unless we are diving in and out of the boat.

i use my boat and we jump off of it and get back on the sundeck soaking and jump in again. the water drains down and gets stuck o either side of the stringer and does not make it to the bildge. also i tore a shift boot 2 years ago in the ozarks and some flaky resin got caught in the bldge pump. there was a good ammount of water over both stringers and i am sure that was the worst of the water intrustion. The stringeres are new and doubled in the engine bay with micro-lam. just need to glass them now. the hull beneath the stringers was hard as a rock. there are no signs of water intrustion in the transom. and i do not have tabs or hydraulic steering that could possibly also let water in. I took out the exhaust tips and re-sealed them in the transom.

Baja really just smeared that resing and mat around. makes me a frown a little. also they did not paint all the way up the transom. it is pink in color. so i want to paint the transom as well (inside)

[Chris]

While you're in there, you might want to consider ditching that pad mount and going to an offshore mount. Not very expensive or hard to do. But you'll get a ton more strength and rigidity- especially if you're moving up in power. The only trick is you'll have to align the engine to the drive gimbal with an alignment tool. No big deal though.