sealing cut end of grp with epoxy?

[jamesdestin]

Evening all. I'm planning to open up an existing outboard well in my grp sloop in the next week or two. How do I seal the raw edges of the GRP? Do I just paint it with epoxy or do i need to abrade it and laminate an overlapping strip of tape over the cut edges?

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Tony,

I assume you mean opening the bottom, if so I would abrade and cover with some rovings to provide both protection and a finish that will little if any sanding, when cured and sanded, re-coat with 3 or 4 coats of epoxy, wet on tacky will avoid the sanding between coats.

Avagoodweekend......

 

[Guest]

When I built / cut my outboard well into my snapdragon ... I used Polyester for all the work - making sure that keyed surfaces were made .... The cut edges of grp hull etc. were sealed with generous amounts of warmed ployester ... warm as it is then nice and thin / runny to get into those nicks and voids that are found. Once the first coat was on and near cured but still tacky - unwarmed ambient resin was liberally pasted over to complete. A trick that can keep runs and unsightly edges to a minimum is to have clear cellophane taped along the egde and ready to fold over and tape along other side of edge ... forming an envelope to hold the resin in place. Being cellophane - the resin only lightly sticks - making sure of course no creases in the plastic !! Once near cured - pull away the plastic .... voila.

There really is no need for fancy work on this ... no need for rovings or additions.

Tip - if you are building also the bulkhead to go across the locker / cockpit to take the engine .... drill and plug with dowels through GRP bulkhead into the new engine well bulkhead edge to give it extra strength at the joint.

If you want any info of how I did it ... pm me - glad to pass on ...