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Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:14 pm
by JBPhoenix
Hi Team,

I got a couple of samples of Anodised Fibreglass this morning. This is NOT Carbon Fiber but Fibreglass that has been charged and anodised with Aluminium powder. From what I can tell from handling the cloth (300gsm) is that feels slightly stiffer and because of this it lays down on a flat surface incredibly well. It seems a little more resistant to skewing in the weave although in saying that it flexes and forms to shapes in the same way would expect my standard cloth to do. The weave looks very clean and really does have that "Carbon look"

So why did I order this ? Ill be honest and say that LOVE the look of carbon fibre but I understand its not best suited for my purpose which is building the Panga 20. Also I despise painting and rarely get a good finish no matter how hard I try. This glass however may just kill those two birds with one stone.

I am going to preparer some samples and see how it lays up and wets out with the addition of the aluminium powder coat.. I will post the results when I am done.
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Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:26 am
by OneWayTraffic
That looks fantastic. Wouldn't UV still be an issue with epoxy though?

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:21 am
by fallguy1000
OneWayTraffic wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:26 am That looks fantastic. Wouldn't UV still be an issue with epoxy though?
Of course. In order to use that stuff, you need about 15 coats of varnish over it on decks.

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:42 am
by Jaysen
fallguy1000 wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:21 am
OneWayTraffic wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:26 am That looks fantastic. Wouldn't UV still be an issue with epoxy though?
Of course. In order to use that stuff, you need about 15 coats of varnish over it on decks.
Or a UV rated clear coat from EMC, interlux or other marine paint.

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2021 12:14 pm
by TomW1
Cool stuff. System 3 has a UV resistant epoxy, SB-112 https://www.systemthree.com/collections ... oard-epoxy , check it out. Then a couple of layers of 2 part polyurethane which has a life line of 4 times normal clear coat varnish so maybe 10-12 years and your set. https://www.interlux.com/en/us/boat-pai ... ction-plus

Good luck, Tom

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2021 2:01 pm
by fallguy1000
Jaysen wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:42 am
fallguy1000 wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:21 am
OneWayTraffic wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:26 am That looks fantastic. Wouldn't UV still be an issue with epoxy though?
Of course. In order to use that stuff, you need about 15 coats of varnish over it on decks.
Or a UV rated clear coat from EMC, interlux or other marine paint.
Oh come on!! Who is gonna paint it?

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 5:46 am
by OneWayTraffic
Problem with all clear coats is that they use UV filters that eventually get used up. OK if you can store out of direct sunlight.

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 7:51 am
by VT_Jeff
JBPhoenix wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:14 pm Also I despise painting and rarely get a good finish no matter how hard I try.
+1000%

Very interested to see how it works out, someone must have already solved the uv riddle I'm guessing.

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 8:01 am
by Jaysen
VT_Jeff wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 7:51 am
JBPhoenix wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:14 pm Also I despise painting and rarely get a good finish no matter how hard I try.
+1000%

Very interested to see how it works out, someone must have already solved the uv riddle I'm guessing.
The solution suggested to me... keep your boat inside and only use it at night. That or learn to enjoy refinishing.

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:00 am
by VT_Jeff
Jaysen wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 8:01 am The solution suggested to me... keep your boat inside and only use it at night. That or learn to enjoy refinishing.
It's only in your lattitude where things spontaneoulsy combust like a drummer/vampire as soon as they leave the garage(or "carport" as you may say) . In the Northeast, we worry about UV as much as we worry about earthquakes. Ahh shit doesn't make it ahhta the cellah ahnuff to be a frickin prawblim, okay? An tell Brady he's always frickin' welcome at my grammahs house fah suppah if he stahhts gettin livah spahts or whatevah down theyah, okay?

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:04 am
by VT_Jeff
JBPhoenix wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:14 pm I got a couple of samples of Anodised Fibreglass this morning.
Does it come in white?

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:19 pm
by JBPhoenix
user_id=82106]
JBPhoenix wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:14 pm I got a couple of samples of Anodised Fibreglass this morning.
Does it come in white?
[/quote]

They do this ......but I think that is probably more of a silver?
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Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:23 pm
by VT_Jeff
JBPhoenix wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:19 pm user_id=82106]
JBPhoenix wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:14 pm I got a couple of samples of Anodised Fibreglass this morning.
Does it come in white?
They do this ......but I think that is probably more of a silver?
Ha956090927da4c3ea08dba26313e7bfcY.jpg
[/quote]


That is pretty darned interesting! If you sheathed a hull in that as a final "coat", and then sprayed on some uv clear coat, you'd have quite a finish/look.

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:25 pm
by joe2700
I'm not saying painting is easy, but getting a perfect layer of glass down over an entire hull where it is ready to clear coat with no fairing, filling, or significant sanding sounds a lot harder. Maybe doable if you vacuum bag?

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 4:43 am
by OneWayTraffic
joe2700 wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:25 pm I'm not saying painting is easy, but getting a perfect layer of glass down over an entire hull where it is ready to clear coat with no fairing, filling, or significant sanding sounds a lot harder. Maybe doable if you vacuum bag?
And then I'd always be stressing everytime I come up on something. There's a reason my rubrails are UHMWPE. Not the best looking, but I'll never need to worry about it.

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 10:08 am
by VT_Jeff
joe2700 wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:25 pm I'm not saying painting is easy, but getting a perfect layer of glass down over an entire hull where it is ready to clear coat with no fairing, filling, or significant sanding sounds a lot harder. Maybe doable if you vacuum bag?
I may be dreaming Joe but my thought is this: the hull is already fair, ready for paint, but instead you apply a single sheet of the annodized glass, fill the weave with raw epoxy. That should not create too much a a fairing problem. This is done on strip-built boats all the time, which is kind of where I got the idea. They get the hull fair, lay on a layer of glass for abrasion and leave it bright, no fairing compound etc. I don't see a big difference.

I'll freely admit that I'm far more interested in discovery than in perfection when it comes to boat-building, so different ways of doing things are always high on my list.

Re: Anodised Fiberglass

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:31 am
by JBPhoenix
Well, we got some decent weather allowing me to get a couple o 300 x 300mm samples down on a piece of standard ply - no marine ply on hand as yet.

Here are my observations.

Epoxy: West Systems 105 with 206 Hardener.

Cutting: The glass cut beautifully with my Fiskers HD Circular cloth cutter. No issues cutting clean edges and lines, I even cut a few tight curves - no worries. The fibre threads that can pull away from the cloth once cut are more like feather quills than fibres from the common cloth. What I mean by this is they are defiantly stiffer and don't spread out like cotton candy anywhere near as much as standard cloth.

Wetting: Ass always I let gravity work for me during the wetting stage - I put a good even coat of epoxy on the ply then add the cloth over it and just leave it for a few minutes. Standard cloth wets itself out about 90% just using gravity to pull it down into the epoxy. I was suprised that although the Anodised cloth is stiffer, it still wetted itself out about 80%. This pic shows the two samples after just being laid on to the epoxy.
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This after about 5 mins...
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As you can on this red sample, it wetted itself through about 80% on its own. Then using a thing foam roller I added only to the dry areas then a final roll over the full piece.
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The next test I wanted to do was to use a spreader/scraper onto of the glass to see if I could raise any of the Anodised powder from the cloth. I used a Tongue Depressor and gave it some decent pressure while scrapping of any extra epoxy. As you can see, the blue powder did lift some. but as I pressed with more pressure than I would with a scraper, I dont feel this an issue. **Unless I thought later, you were going over thick edge and needed some extra pressure to get it to conform. That will be my next test.
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I only scraped down one edge so I could compare the two.
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Here is a close up of the two with a filler coat on, no finishing. Gotta say, it looks pretty good. although it did lose some of that woven carbon effect once it was filled with epoxy. BUT I haven't done any finishing/polishing as yet so I am hoping the effect comes through a bit more once shinned up.
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Ill do the Shaped testing soon, more than happy to answer any Q's