"Ron White" writes:

I am helping a friend who is building a 35' motor trawler. It is planked
with marine ply and epoxy glued and it soon need fairing. Are there any
good commercially available epoxy fairing compounds in 5 gallon units?

You want to do the job cheap or do it right?

If it were my project, I'd start buying epoxy in 500 lb drums, hardner in 40
lb pails and Dic-A-Perl microballoons in 30 lb bags.

Use DB170, 17 oz double bias glass, comes in approximately 220 lb rolls.

The composites industry is going bonkers right now.

Both glass and foam are on allocation.

Don't even think about carbon fiber.

There is an outfit making 30,000 carbon fiber hockey sticks and they can't
keep up with demand.

Expect 8 wks for a roll of DB170.

If you can use vendors located in SoCal, contact me off list.

BTW, glass first, fairing last.

HTH


--
Lew

S/A: Challenge, The Bullet Proof Boat, (Under Construction in the Southland)
Visit: http://home.earthlink.net/~lewhodgett for Pictures

I am suprised that a good designer leaves out fiberglass
specifications on plans for a 35' trawler! Are you certain it's not
somewhere in the notes?
Anyway, here is what we would use:
- fiberglass covering on plywood, if only for protection and
resistance to abrasion: 9 oz. woven but, you could use 12 oz. biaxial
45/45 no matt and add strength to those panels. The biaxial fiber
orientation at 45/45 will complement the plywood fibers at 0-90. It
cost only a tiny little bit more, less than $ 50.00 extra for the
whole boat.
- fairing epoxy: it can not be done with Bondo type stuff. We sell a
unique product from System Three named QuickFair. It is an epoxy
fairing compound that is easy to apply, cures fast and is easy to sand
and it is not soft like WEST Microlight. See a complete description
he
http://www.boatbuildercentral.com/pr...?id=17&Fairing
You can ask questions about application etc. on our message baord and
there, you will also read opinions and tips about fairing on epoxy:
http://bateau2.com/


Jacques from bateau.com

Oops, I may have stepped in it again. I think I should have said it is my
understanding that he made several suggested lay-ups leaving the final
choice to my friend, the builder. I thank you and the other's who have
offered advice.
The hull on this boat is three layers of 1/2" ply on the bottoms and two
layers of 1/2" on the sides. It seems quite stout so the glass is just a
covering, I guess.
I have never done any wet lay-ups like Glenn sugested so the idea of
handling wetted out cloth with it's tendancy to become distorted kind of
worries me just having a small lay-up crew of one or two people. I would
have thought biaxial would be easier to handle than cloth due to it's
stiching. I used all biaxial on my boat but it was stiched to mat and laid
down dry, very easy to handle.

--
Ron White
Boat building web address is
www.concentric.net/~knotreel

"Ron White" wrote in message ...
Oops, I may have stepped in it again. I think I should have said it is my
understanding that he made several suggested lay-ups leaving the final
choice to my friend, the builder. I thank you and the other's who have
offered advice.
The hull on this boat is three layers of 1/2" ply on the bottoms and two
layers of 1/2" on the sides. It seems quite stout so the glass is just a
covering, I guess.
I have never done any wet lay-ups like Glenn sugested so the idea of
handling wetted out cloth with it's tendancy to become distorted kind of
worries me just having a small lay-up crew of one or two people. I would
have thought biaxial would be easier to handle than cloth due to it's
stiching. I used all biaxial on my boat but it was stiched to mat and laid
down dry, very easy to handle.

With that kind of planking, I understand the designer's response. All
what he needs is some protection against abrasion etc. - 9 oz. woven
would be great. Pick a fine weave: as Joel writes, it will require
less fairing and sanding.

Jacques
http://bateau.com