JEM Watercraft

Just a question on something I haven't quite got straight. In the Sabalo build instructions there aren't really clear instructions as to how to deal with all interior surfaces. I want to know if I need to glass, or just coat surfaces like the underside of the deck pieces, sub-floor frames etc.? It would be alot of work to glass all those nooks and crannies, so some clarification please.

I am intending to modify the sub-floor frame to make the floor well bigger for storage, so I intend to reinforce the floor with a laminated second layer, and I will probably glass that as well for good measure, but the other surfaces I was just intending to coat with epoxy to seal them. Obviously I will use fillet and tape or glued battens on all joins as per instructions.

It depends on the quality and thickness of your plywood. Marine grade ply should be ok with just epoxy sealing.

If the wood has very thin surface plies, then you'll want to cover both sides with fiberglass.

Disregard the previous reply, I forgot to log in.

The ply is only 3.2mm but has a pretty good hardwood outer ply. I think I would get away with just coating it with epoxy.

I was thinking that I might try a couple of experiments with thinning down the epoxy a little, then adding wood flour to thicken it up again to the normal consistency. This would make the epoxy a bit tougher than without the filler but still 'paintable'. I am thinking particularly for the CP sub-frame. I might try it on some scrap and compare the two options.

Glassing the whole lot, particularly with the modification I made would be an absolute pain in the proverbial.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

What mod is giving you trouble?

I inserted new side panels in the CP under floor frame to make the cavity wider and cut out the existing ones in that area, so I have more joins there than normal. There are more fiddly nooks and crannys than normal that's all.

goanywhere wrote:Disregard the previous reply, I forgot to log in.

The ply is only 3.2mm but has a pretty good hardwood outer ply. I think I would get away with just coating it with epoxy.

I was thinking that I might try a couple of experiments with thinning down the epoxy a little, then adding wood flour to thicken it up again to the normal consistency. This would make the epoxy a bit tougher than without the filler but still 'paintable'. I am thinking particularly for the CP sub-frame. I might try it on some scrap and compare the two options.

Glassing the whole lot, particularly with the modification I made would be an absolute pain in the proverbial.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

On my final weave fill coat, I add a few pinches of woodflour to get a little bit harder cured surface. I have zero evidence that it would make a difference. But it seems correct... even if it's only in my brain.