http://alberg30.blogspot.com/

This guy really went to it! I wish I had the facilities and time for such a project. I have lots of ideas on the future of my Bristol.. This is great inspiration!

I just read the entire blog. Wow. Quite a project.

I am amazed by people w/ the ability to just cut and glass together fiberglass boats like it was no big deal. I have 0 experience glassing and am daunted. Blogs like this help take away some of the mystery and motivate me for getting my bulkhead re-glassed.

Oh to have that shop for one winter....

I wish I had the time, skills, tools, and space to tear out the interior of my boat and completely redo it. I think it would be a lot of fun. I was particularly interested to see how he tabbed in the supports for his settees but I didn't see anything specific on it. I've wondered how that is done. How do you get wood pieces affixed to the hull without screwing them into something?

A part of me wishes I would have bought a throw away junker boat to cut my teeth with all this stuff. I guess I didn't pay much for the B29, but it's in such nice shape I would feel nervous ripping everything out of the inside. It sails right now as it is.. Maybe my bravery will increase after a season with her.

Yep, hoping to see the tabbing was something that kept me reading the whole thing. I remember at one point he just hot glued something then glassed it in. I don't think it was the actual tabs but maybe. I am thinking any adhesive that would hold a tab in place will work, then glass it. It would be cool if someone would make a video of the process. If there is one I have yet to find it. I think the people that know how don't think it's a big deal so they just take a pic or two of the whole process. I bought the West video but I would still like to see it done on a boat, doing what I need to do.

I have a small project I started on that will introduce me to the whole hocus pocus mystical alchemy of fiberglass. Pictures will follow.

When it comes to 'glass work, there is nothing to fear, except fear itself.

Rule #1: NEVER let the stuff come in contact with your skin. If so, wash within a couple minutes, do NOT put it off.

Rule #2: the manufacturers LIE; you do NOT need "prolonged exposure" to get skin sensitive to the stuff.

Rule #3: adequate ventillation on big jobs. Respirator a must in-doors.

What is "prolonged exposure"?

Five minutes?
Five hours?

That epoxy and resin is a pretty caustic liquid to have on your skin.

I had friends who worked in it, some of them for 10 years. Seeing them I felt any exposure was too prolonged. I now wish I would have learned the basics though.

And respirators can't be stressed enough in my opinion.

Mandatory respirator.

Resins form cumulative toxins in places like your liver and can cause neurological damage as well. The more years you work with resins, the more toxins you carry. From what I've heard they don't go away.

This thread reminds me of when I worked on the Cruisers Yachts account and went through the factory in Oconto. The air inside nearly took my breath away and I asked "how can you guys work in here with that smell?" and they replied "what smell?"

I did a really big job on my boat a couple of years ago. Had to hang upside down as I spread the stuff up ABOVE me on the underside of the cabin sole (drip, drip, drip...), laid the 'glass... then got the enjoyable task of spreading more. Ultimately, ended up at my doctors office, arms swollen like you wouldn't believe as the epoxy/resin soaked through my protective layers.

Hence the question: what is 'prolonged'?

If I ever do that big, that complex of a job again, I expect I'll be wearing an impermeable rain slicker, with the gloves taped over the slicker at the wrist... and be damned to the sweating!

(it was beyond aweful...)

I found an example of tabbing in bulkheads. This is a very small boat... Only two layers of fiberglass. Anyway, it appears that tabbing is just laying fiberglass and epoxy resin over the joint where the bulkhead and hull/cabin top meet. I guess this is what I figured it would be, but it's still curious to me that something like this would hold up to the rigors of falling of an 8 foot wave... but.. I guess it works