Piragua
 

Hi, I have built a 14' by 33" Piragua and want to cover it with
fiberglass. Can someone please help me determine how much cloth, tape
and epoxy resin I need in order to do this? I am considering doing
both the interior and exterior.

Thanks
Ruben

On 19 Sep 2005 04:50:08 -0700, wrote:

Hi, I have built a 14' by 33" Piragua and want to cover it with
fiberglass. Can someone please help me determine how much cloth, tape
and epoxy resin I need in order to do this? I am considering doing
both the interior and exterior.

I would guess you have a sheer line of less than 18" right?, so two
peices of cloth, 36" wide by about 15' long should be more than enough
for the outside. you could cut one in half longwise, and overlap at a
lower chine. double that for the inside too.

most 16' canoes / pirogues call for a 1.5 gallons of resin if you are
frugal, 3 gal kit if you are not. As you hope to wetout the inside as
well, I would opt for the 3 gal kit. This being a 14' version, you
might get by with the 1.5, but might end up short and getting another
quart or so.

As far as tape goes, my understanding is if the boat is already built,
and you are covering the whole thing with glass anyway, you don't need
it.

If you are heck-bent on useing it anyway, take 15' (to alow for the
curvature of the sides) times how many chines on on a side, times 2
for both sides. If it is a v-style-hull, or not a flat bottom, add
another 15' for that joint.and then times 2 again for the inside. so:

A boat with a flat bottom, and 2 chines would be:
15 * 2chines * 2 sides * 2 (inside/outside) = about 120 feet of tape.

Then trow in a couple of yards to do the bow and stern. A 50 yard
roll would be plenty.

so, if it was me, I would probably order 20 yards of 36" cloth and
three gallons of resin. If you wanted to add a 50 yard roll of tape
that would be okay, but probably not needed.

Just my thoughts!


email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com
please respond in this NG so others
can share your wisdom as well!

Be aware that adding fiberglass and epoxy will increase the weight of
your Piragua, sometimes up to double.