Hello, Back to the theme of applying fibreglass to a hull. Does anyone know the difference between fibreglass matting and fibreglass tissue? Having had a look at both I can see that the tissue is lighter in weight and thickness, but, is the tissue type suitable for doing the full job, or, is the tissue used for something else and not suitable for fibreglassing a complete hull?. If anyone has any experience of the two products I would appreciate their comments. Thankyou
There's no single answer to this question, we really need to know what kind of boat hull is involved, and also how large it is. Glass tissue will add very little strength, it's only purpose is to create a resin-rich surface. Left to itself, anything more than a thin coat of resin will drain and create puddles, but the tissue will hold it while it cures, and for some applications a coat of resin with minimal glass reinforcement may be all you need. There are many grades of tissue, some more suitable for sheathing a hull than others, and some aren't too easy to apply, being happier to stick to your brush than the hull. so you keep dragging it all over the place. Having said all this however, it can be used successfully on small hulls. I've sheathed lots of hulls with glass, and I've almost always used glass mat. This adds a useful amount of strength, though also weight of course, and will resist knocks and other damage far better than tissue, or even thin glass cloth. The disadvantage is that it's not all that easy to apply, especially if the hull is a complicated shape. You'll really need a washer roller as well as a stiff brush to achieve a neat surface without air bubbles. Thin mat, say 300gm or 1oz in imperial measurements should be enough for most applications, but take care to cut panels fairly accurately to fit, and don't thin it by trying to stretch the wet glass too much over compound curves. When it's cured, use coarse paper on a sanding block to flatten the surface, then fill any small hollows that have been revealed with a filler like P-38. After this, a thin brushed coat of resin should rub down well enough for a primer coat of paint. These are a few basics, if you tell us more about your hull, there's probably quite a lot more I could add, and I've assumed that you are working with polyester materials, though you wouldn't normally think of using glass tissue with epoxy.
By the way, to be perfectly grammatical, your topic heading should have read 'Matting or Tissueing', as I think I've pointed out here more than once before, there is only one 'T' in mat, and the word 'matt' usually applies to a paint finish.
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Topic: fibreglass: matting or tissue (Read 22539 times)