Working with Poly Iso board

[toddmanchu]

I am interested in making a fishbox/leaning post out of glassed Iso poly board. I would like to fabricate it out of 2" Poly board that has a silvar mylar covering on each side. Can I just glue the structure together and then glass the inside and outside? Will this board melt with FG resin or do I have to use epoxy? Should I peel the silver covering off the board first or with the glass bond to the covering? Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to screw it up. I am hoping to end up with a leaning post/fishbox that is strong enough to sit on, has good insulating qualities and is still light weight.

[Fred in Wisc]

Epoxy won't bond to that shiny silver stuff. I'd also bet that it won't have a strong bond to the foam underneath. You might want to consider building a light plywood box around (inside and outside) your foam box and then glassing that. Then you know it will bond right and be durable. It'll probably be cheaper too, since the plywood will provide impact resistance, otherwise you would have to use a number of layers of glass to get the impact and puncture resistance that you want.

Don't use polyester resin. It's cheap, but it's not 100% waterproof, it shrinks, and it stinks bad. Polyester is a cuss word on this forum.

If you do some searches on the forum, you will find some consoles, coolers, and fishboxes that can give you some good ideas.

[toddmanchu]

Thanks Fred, I found a job on Bertram website which shows a project like you said using light thin plywood on both sides of the Iso insulation. Thank you for taking the time to answer a newbee, Epoxy is the word.

[Fred in Wisc]

You're welcome, we've all been the new guy at some point. The membership on this board is really helpful, and there's a minimum of drama. And the link up top for boat building supplies will get you some very good pricing and quick shipping on materials that are the right stuff to do the job.