Nick,
Firstly welcome back to the hobby! Okay in terms of fibre glassing your first step should be to sand the hull smooth and do any filling necessary then put a layer of resin on the bare hull and allow to dry. My favourite method for this is to us a small foam roller which you just throw away. You want as thin a coat as possible and avoid runs at all costs, otherwise you will need a file to get the surface smooth.
The purpose of this coat is to sink into the wood fibres so when you apply the tissue you don't get dry patched and poor adhesion. It may raise the fibres and you will need to sand that away after its cured.
Use fibreglass tissue and cut the pieces for both sides at the same time so they overlap a little, it won't show when you are finished.
With all fibreglassing there are some rules which should be considered:
- Its ok to mix the resin in a pot but you must then place it in a tray. An old baking tray works well - best to cover the tray in tin foil so its not ruined (and don't tell the wife!). If you leave it in the pot it will get hot as the resin and hardener react to the extent the pot can start smoking and the resin can go off in a few minutes. The reason for the tray is to reduce the heat transfer and gives you much longer to work.
- The temperature of the room is important as you need to be at about 17 centigrade for all to work. If hotter it will set faster, if colder it will take ages to set and can remain sticky on the surface - this is called waxing and is impossible to sand off but if you wash in warm soapy water it will remove the wax.
- There are generally two types of resin, cellulose and epoxy. Cellulose stinks like you won't believe but epoxy is very mild.
- When you start to lay the cloth or tissue start in the middle of the hull doing both sides at the same time to avoid distortion when it dries. Roller forwards and backwards and again you want as thin a coat as possible such the grain shows through., Slightly overlap the next pieces and continue until the hull is done. Basically get stuck in and go for it as you have limited time before the resin starts to set, don't be bashful.
- once all dry sand to key the surface and add more cloth or tissue and/or just put 3 or 4 coats of resin on to builds up a layer which means you can get stuck in with the wet and dry, it gives you something to sand.
- Its not that hard but do have all the tools you need ready to hand because the clock is ticking from the moment you mix up the resin and hardener.
Its not actually that hard to do provided you follow the basics, remember too hot and the resin dries in minutes, too cold and it may take ages to dry and we are talking days and weeks and avoid runs at all costs.
Hope this may assist
Cheers
Geoff
