Is there an alternative to using stranded glass?

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rlea

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I'm securing my boarding ladder by glassing a fair chunk of ply to the inside of my transom. The wood is being held in place with the bolts to the ladder. Now, I need to glass the ply in place - not easy when you're trying to do the job in such a confined space that I'm on my back and having to pass all material past my nose. I'm dreading tackling to job with stranded fibreglass!
Question: Is there an alternative?
 
Use a material like Sikaflex 292 or Sabatack 750XL. It's for permanently bonding things like hull/deck joints or rubbing strakes.
Drill your bolt holes in the transom and the block. Put the bolts through from the outside. Blather the back of the pad and slide it down the bolts on the inside where it's going to be. Nip up loosely (don't squeeze all the jointing material out. Pull the bolts out before it sets, or have the ladder already installed.
 
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pvb said:
Think it's perfectly sensible, nice expressive word.
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If you are talking nonsense at great length! ;)

Avatar Lakesailor's solution is good, check the definition of Blather. I am just having some fun.
 
If you go down the glass route, use twill weave rather than CSM. You can wet it out off the boat, and it's much, much happier to go round corners than CSM. Its also far less likely to drop itchy bits all over the place, and much easier to cut to the correct shape.
 
rlea said:
I'm securing my boarding ladder by glassing a fair chunk of ply to the inside of my transom. The wood is being held in place with the bolts to the ladder. Now, I need to glass the ply in place - not easy when you're trying to do the job in such a confined space that I'm on my back and having to pass all material past my nose. I'm dreading tackling to job with stranded fibreglass!
Question: Is there an alternative?
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Unless your boat has an exceptionally flimsy transom wooden pads to spread the load at each fixing point will be adequate.

Stick in place with an adhesive sealant as Lakesailor suggests. Sikaflex 292 is an adhesive suitable for structural bonding. Sikaflex 291 is an adhesive sealant.
 
rlea said:
I'm securing my boarding ladder by glassing a fair chunk of ply to the inside of my transom. The wood is being held in place with the bolts to the ladder. Now, I need to glass the ply in place - not easy when you're trying to do the job in such a confined space that I'm on my back and having to pass all material past my nose. I'm dreading tackling to job with stranded fibreglass!
Question: Is there an alternative?
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I'm not entirely sure what is meant by 'glassing in place'.
If I wanted to secure a piece of plywood to the transom, then I'd murder the plywood with epoxy away from the boat, applying glass-fibre woven matting or tape to it if that's desirable, then when set, offer-up that plywood to the transom. If the mating surfaces don't coincide too well, then I'd apply epoxy resin liquid to both surfaces (to ensure intimate contact) then make-up some very stiff epoxy putty with the remaining resin liquid (I find talc is as good as anything for this), then liberally apply the putty to the sheathed plywood and bolt in place, scraping away any goop which squeezes out of the join.

Well that's the way I think I'd do it, unless I have completely misunderstood your application.
 
Wow. What a lot of bother.

I urge you to get some Sabatack 750XL (about £10) and try it out. I butt jointed a piece of 1/2" ply to an offcut piece of hardwood. After setting I cannot break them apart. I've challenged friends to try, but the pieces are still stuck together. The huge advantage over Sikaflex is that it
a) Sets in the presence of moisture
b) Doesn't go off it the tube.
 
Mounting boarding ladder

My guess is that OP is intending to cover the plywood with Chopped Strand Mat both to keep moisure out and to increase strength of block and the transom. As said twill weave fibreglas is best along with chamfering the edges of the wood to minimise sharp corners for the glass.
However this should not be necessary and as said just glue the plywood to the transom then through bolt the ladder on. The size of the plywood will dictate the strength of the whole thing. If you want for waterproofing paint the plywood with epoxy before fitting.
If you want more strength in the transom then fibreglass laid flat onto the transom and under the block will be easier and possibly stronger than over the plywood. Again the bigger the better and more layers the better or even carbon fibre for more strength.Use epoxy for more strength. But assuming a typical transom a piece of ply like 50mm wider than the ladder at each side and 200mm high for each set of bolts should be very adequate to spread the bolt load. As said just glue it on. good luck olewill
 
Lakesailor said:
Wow. What a lot of bother.
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Wel, the guy is starting-off with plywood, which may need to be covered to prevent de-lamination ...
The rest is easier and quicker to do than to describe it.

If you want to make it a simple job, use a piece of suitable hardwood, drill and sand, goop (of your choice) on the back, bolt in place. Finished. All of 10 minutes.
 
If you use woven roving instead of chopped strand mat you will shed less itchy fibres over yourself as it goes passed your nose. Also cut the rovings at 45 degrees to the weave and you will not have any strandy edge pieces dropping on you.

Alternatively chop the CSM into short fibres and mix up in epoxy to make a thick stranded paste then cover the wood with that. Car body epoxy is like this pre-mixed in a tin.

Ross
 
this may sound daft but a HDPE, or LDPE cutting board is really tough, cheap, and no itching. Use penny or plate washers.
You could use a foam adhesive as well, which I think is the one mentioned above.
 
Whatever the OP decides to do (and he did ask for alternatives, so there are a few there to choose from), a lot will depend upon the strength of the existing transom.
Don't under-estimate the forces on a boarding ladder - they can be significant, worst-case would be a heavyweight individual with soaking-wet clothes ... (say) around 350 lbs ?
 
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