Make GRP panels for canoe
 

Hi all,

I'm interested in building a canadian canoe for myself and my daughter
to use. I have already built a small rowing boat using stitch and glue
many years ago, but want to try something different.

What I was thinking is to pre-make flat GRP panels (gelcoated on one
side) and then build the canoe in a stitch and glue type method with
these.

I'd probably use polyester resin for the panels and tape together using
epoxy. This is to help reduce the cost as I've not found epoxy resin to
be all that cheap in the UK.

So, with this in mind, how many layers of matt would be needed for the
panel. Too many and it won't easily bend and I guess too few would
leave it weak. Also, how do you determine the quantity of resin needed
based on the sq.ft of the project?

Any advice welcome.

Thanks,
Mark

) writes:

What I was thinking is to pre-make flat GRP panels (gelcoated on one
side) and then build the canoe in a stitch and glue type method with
these.

yes, it can be done. TF Jones writes about building a plywood skiff
design (16 ft Dobler on his website www.jonesboats.com) that way.
however, the result will be much heavier than doing the same thing in
plywood.

he laid up the GRP panels on masonite to get a smooth surface on the
outside of the boat. I think he used wax to keep the resin from
sticking. He put the panels together with polyester, spreading a
thickened, uncatalyzed poylester filet, then covering with strips of
fibreglass cloth saturated and "wetted out" with catalysed polyester
resin. When I've put catalysed polyester over uncatalyzed it has taken
overnight to cure through.


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned

Hi,

That's great thanks.

I was thinking of using melomine (sp?) as the base and even building
basic moulds of exactly the correct size to enable a more rapid build.

I'll look into this further.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi Arnold,

Many thanks for the information. I haven't seen blockboard for a long
while in the UK, but I dare say that a decent DIY shop will sell it.

I've been doing some more research on this (on the web) and found that
Richard Woods has used this technique and some of his catamarans are
designed to use this method. I've asked Richard for more information so
I hope this is forthcoming.

http://www.evecom.nl/multihulls/mult...ldin.tekst.htm
http://www.sailingcatamarans.com/gypsy.htm

For the canoe, it is only the sides which need to curve to any degree,
with the bottom being flat so I would hope to have more layers on the
bottom. I'll laminate a few layers over the weekend to see if I can
judge the amount required for strength whilst keeping some minimal
flexibility.

Thanks,
Mark