Bedding new fair-leads with epoxy
 

I want to use epoxy to bed a pair of aluminium 4 inch fair-leads (the
exisiting ones are some 40 years old gun-metal and have cracks) to the stern
of my boat. There is no access underneath to the existing bolt holes so I
intend to bed the fair-leads on a bed of thick-ish epoxy mix and epoxy the
bolts in position. As the new items are smaller than the originals, and both
the holes do not line up with the existing holes, I intend using one
existing thread and drilling an oversize hole for the other bolt and using
epoxy to hold it.

This is my first epoxy / fibreglass repair job so I'm a bit apprehensive and
want to make sure I have a good plan in place before I proceed. On the
subject of thickening epoxy, I think I read somewhere a while back that one
can use talcum powder as a thickening agent - is this indeed viable? Any
thoughts / ideas on this project much appreciated.

The West System people have developed methods for 'potting' fasteners in epoxy. The basic idea is that a fastener is embedded in a plug of filled epoxy which is large enough that its surface area can carry the load of the fastener to the substrate. If done right, it's capable of bearing great loads. More at http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...estsystem4.asp and on the West System site somewhere.

"Adam" wrote in message ...
I want to use epoxy to bed a pair of aluminium 4 inch fair-leads (the
exisiting ones are some 40 years old gun-metal and have cracks) to the stern
of my boat. There is no access underneath to the existing bolt holes so I
intend to bed the fair-leads on a bed of thick-ish epoxy mix and epoxy the
bolts in position. As the new items are smaller than the originals, and both
the holes do not line up with the existing holes, I intend using one
existing thread and drilling an oversize hole for the other bolt and using
epoxy to hold it.

This is my first epoxy / fibreglass repair job so I'm a bit apprehensive and
want to make sure I have a good plan in place before I proceed. On the
subject of thickening epoxy, I think I read somewhere a while back that one
can use talcum powder as a thickening agent - is this indeed viable? Any
thoughts / ideas on this project much appreciated.

Adam wrote:
I want to use epoxy to bed a pair of aluminium 4 inch fair-leads (the
exisiting ones are some 40 years old gun-metal and have cracks) to the stern
of my boat. There is no access underneath to the existing bolt holes so I
intend to bed the fair-leads on a bed of thick-ish epoxy mix and epoxy the
bolts in position. As the new items are smaller than the originals, and both
the holes do not line up with the existing holes, I intend using one
existing thread and drilling an oversize hole for the other bolt and using
epoxy to hold it.

This is my first epoxy / fibreglass repair job so I'm a bit apprehensive and
want to make sure I have a good plan in place before I proceed. On the
subject of thickening epoxy, I think I read somewhere a while back that one
can use talcum powder as a thickening agent - is this indeed viable? Any
thoughts / ideas on this project much appreciated.

I would not use talcum powder for this sort of project.

A better thickener would be "Milled Fibers" to increase the strength of
the epoxy.

The bolt holes would have to be fairly deep to allow the epoxy to bond
to the bolts enough.

Evan Gatehouse

If he is using the epoxy for a bedding compound, strength isn't that
big of an issue. You could use fine sawdust or even fiberglass
leavings from sanding to thicken the epoxy.

Be sure to mask off to the sides of your work area as close as
possible. This will save you a lot of sanding. Even if the tape gets
bedded in the finish it makes a good marker for where you want to sand
down to.

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 08:04:29 -0700, Evan Gatehouse
wrote:

Adam wrote:
I want to use epoxy to bed a pair of aluminium 4 inch fair-leads (the
exisiting ones are some 40 years old gun-metal and have cracks) to the stern
of my boat. There is no access underneath to the existing bolt holes so I
intend to bed the fair-leads on a bed of thick-ish epoxy mix and epoxy the
bolts in position. As the new items are smaller than the originals, and both
the holes do not line up with the existing holes, I intend using one
existing thread and drilling an oversize hole for the other bolt and using
epoxy to hold it.

This is my first epoxy / fibreglass repair job so I'm a bit apprehensive and
want to make sure I have a good plan in place before I proceed. On the
subject of thickening epoxy, I think I read somewhere a while back that one
can use talcum powder as a thickening agent - is this indeed viable? Any
thoughts / ideas on this project much appreciated.

I would not use talcum powder for this sort of project.

A better thickener would be "Milled Fibers" to increase the strength of
the epoxy.

The bolt holes would have to be fairly deep to allow the epoxy to bond
to the bolts enough.

Evan Gatehouse