GRP people in Hamble

[Eric_Cartman]

Hiya Folks!

I hope you're all having a good season.

Unfortunately ours isn't quite up to expectations! The hull of our baby Sealine's just been slurry blasted to remove 13 years of antifouling. As expected there are a couple (ie 2) little areas that need filling and then we thought we'd take the opportunity to re-epoxy the hull before she sets sail once more.

Has anybody any recommendations about who to approach in the Southampton area? One chap suggested that we do the work ourselves but in all honesty as we've never attempted it before, and due to the waterproofing being kinda critical, we're a little hesitant. It's certainly not that we've money to throw away - we're just a little cautious! What do you reckon???

All thoughts greatfully received....


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[woody001]

paul desty - desty marine.

good guy, good work. simple!

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[Landale]

Agreed, had mine done there a year ago very tidy!

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[oldsaltoz]

G'day James,

Applying a bit of filler and a coat of epoxy resin is not rocket science and has been done very successfully by many owners in the past.

The investment in tools is very small, an old strait backed saw, some 80 mm rollers and a couple of 2 inch brushes, a sanding board (about 2 foot 6 inches long, 4 inches wide and thin enough to bend with a light pressure, 3 ply is good).
Some masking tape and a few ice cream or plastic milk containers, a good respirator and goggles will also be required, please don't use the silly paper things that go over the nose and under the chin with two elastic ties, they are almost useless. only use Acetone in a well ventilated area, if outside (and I think you will be) stay upwind.

Choose a good epoxy, I use West System all the time and have never had a problem, they also sell dispensers so mixing is made simple, one pump of epoxy and one pump of hardener and you have your first mix at the correct ratio.

Filling low areas, only use closed cell balloons, Micro balloons or 'Q' cells are ok for underwater areas as they are closed cell type: first clean the area to be filled with a white rag and a plenty of Acetone, now run some masking tape around the edge or the area to be filled, leave the tape about a inch outside the fill area. coat the area with epoxy and let it go tacky, this will take about 30 to 50 minutes, add your mix of epoxy resin and filler (Mixed to about toothpaste thickness) with a scraper then, with the back of the old strait back drag across the filler, keep the blade at about 30 degrees or the back of your thumbs about an inch off the wet filler. use the scraper to add any material to low areas and drag again. The masking tape will ensure the filler is just proud of the original hull line, thus providing a base to sand back from, leaving a good feathered edge on the outside. Not so difficult is it. Sand the filled area the next day with a 125 grit, or next week if only working weekends, wet the area and look at the reflection for any imperfections, get this to as good a finish as possible.

Coating with epoxy: First, wash the area with fresh water an a plastic kitchen scourer, the little green things with yellow foam on one side. when finished, run the hose over the surface a look for any areas the water beads like it does after you apply polish to your car; this will indicate any contaminated areas, wipe them with Acetone and test after washing with a clean or new scourer. then wipe the hull dry.

Let the hull dry out overnight and next morning, wipe the hull with acetone and white rags, change rags about every 2 feet of hull length or 3 square metres. You are now ready to apply the epoxy coating.

Before you start make sure the relative humidity is less than 72%, if above this wait, I find starting around 10 AM is good and you must stop around 2 PM as the humidity will start to climb around 3 PM and you want your resin to have started to cure by then,

Mix small batches to ensure only fresh resin added, about 2 cups for starters, you can make larger batches when you know how long it takes to use each mix. mix the resin and hardener well together and apply with a 180 mm roller rolling one way then across the fist layer without adding more resin, in a # pattern, this ensures an even coat, note don't use standard rollers, get rollers designed for use with epoxy, the others just fall apart and can introduce contaminants.

Cover about half a metre or yard at a time, starting at the water line and working to the centre under the boat, you see an orange peel finish when the thickness is correct, it's quite thin tho, have second person follow up with a brush that has long bristles and get them to just tip off the finish with very light strokes of the brush, this will give you a mirror like finish. You may be able to add another coat later and save yourself a bit of washing and sanding. If you have completed the first coat, go back to the stat point and feel the resin with the back of a finger, if it is very sticky like fly paper, you can recoat, if it's not that sticky it has started to cure and should be left alone; if it's still wet, wait and test every 10 or 15 minutes. when finished let this cure overnight.

Important: Before you apply another coat of resin over cured resin. You must wash the area in fresh water and use the kitchen scourer to remove residue left by the curing process, this is not hard work, a coupe of rubs with the scourer wilts running a hose over it and the water no longer forms beads, When finished, hose the hull and do a final check to ensure no water forms any beads.

Now give the whole area a light sand with a 250 grit, just enough to remove that mirror finish, you don't want to remove too much, so this again is not hard work. Give the hull another wash and use the scourer to endure all dust is dislodged.
wipe dry and allow the hull dry out for a coupe of hours at least and you are ready to apply your next coat. Note if you don't want to wet the hull and wait for her to dry out, you can clean the hull with acetone, just use plenty of clean rags so dust streaks can be seen.

Apply next coat as detailed above, and prep for next coat as above, I would apply at least 4 layers. After the last coat clean and prep as above and you are ready to apply your first coat of paint, I use International Inerguard, designed to keep water out, I then apply an epoxy primer, then antifoul. You might consider getting the spray painting done by others if you have no experience in this area.

I hope you go ahead and do the expensive stuff yourself, you can see that the job has a larger labour cost than materials so a significant saving can be gained.

Andavagoodweekend..........



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[Solitaire]

Give Mike Husle of Hulse Marine Services a ring - 07780 736362. He's based in Locks Heath and I've seen the work he did on TCM's Leopard after lock altercations. His work is outstanding and he does not charge an arm and a leg!

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