Installing chainplates on IP37

Installing chainplates on IP37 in Trinidad Dec 2006

Got the boat ready after breakfast for the glassing crew: Spread plastic drop cloths and moved items out of the way.

They (3 from Dynamite Marine: boss and 2 workers) arrived at 0930 with a load of chemicals, some fiberglass (cloth and strands) and a small sheet of plastic. I had 3 large pieces of plastic ready for drop cloths. I had them use all their FG strands with 1/2 of what I had already unwoven for the backstay job. There were about 65-80 strands total. After they finished the backstay job, they sat around for about 3/4 of an hour and finally someone delivered some more FG strands for the lower stay job. I added my second bundle to theirs for the lower stay. The backstay bundle was about 37" long and the lower shroud bundle was 29" long.

They didn't appear to wipe the area to be glassed before going to work. They didn't wet the strand bundle before wrapping it onto the chainplate at the cross bar. They filled all around the cross bar and angle bar with putty before wetting the strand bundle. After all of the bundle was wetted and spread out, the whole area was covered with a biradial wetted cloth and brushed out. All wetting and brushing was done with a 2" throwaway paint brush.

They used West System fiberglass resin. For the the backstay they used the 205 Fast hardener and for the lower they used the 206 Slow hardener.

After the job there were lots of short strands of cut glass in the cabin and cockpit and a few resin drips on deck.



Now I can start putting the boat back together again and move all the stuff off the deck.



Norm

s/v Realtime