Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Hello all,

well, this is my first post. I'm trying to build a D5 here at San Fernando, Cádiz, Spain

I'm having some issues gathering the materials, mostly because some of them are difficult to find (for instance, it's been a pain finding the biaxial tape, so finally I'll buy biaxial cloth and make some stripes of if).

One of this problem raises with the wood flour. I want to use it as filler for the fillets (also want to stay in a budget). There is only one manufacturer of this in Spain and they make two main prdoucts: One of them is talc-like stuff (ver, very fine powder) and the other is a coarser material.

First I need to know the grit size of the wood flour so I could choose the proper product from this guys. Could you give some directions on this?

Regarding to fiberglass, etc., I finally found 340 g/m2 (10 ounces/sq yard) biaxial cloth, so as I told you before I'm going to get 5 meters of it and cut stripes 5 inches wide so I'll get about 50 meters of it. But regarding the fiberglass for the fiberglassed bottom, the building instruction say:

- Fiberglassed bottom: cover the bottom (and sides?) with the fiberglass or Dynel cloth, 4 oz.
(100gr), before installing the skeg. The fabric should cover the chine with a 2" (5cm) overlap.

But the 100 gr/m2 refers to the dynelm isn't it? Because I can't get any dynel stuff, so I'll use fiberglass and in that case, which fiberglass should I use? Also 100 g/m2 ~3 ounces? What If I can get 6 or 9 ounces?

Thank you very much, all the best,

Jorge

I would get some electric scissors if you are cutting that much strips of fiberglass, going to be a cleaner cut and much much faster.

The wood flour I got from here, I would describe it as maybe not quite as fine as talc but very close. I honestly think as long its hard to see the individual grains its going to be fine enough. I used some sifted saw dust from my table saw and it wasn’t great the grains were too big and it was hard to make it smooth.

I agree with jonnymac, get the fine grit wood flour. As for the glass I would use what I can get even if it is a little heavier than what it called for. It will add a little weight but not much in the grand scheme of things.

Hi!!!
Thank you for your replies. I'll ask then for the finest of the wood flours and try to get a nice scissors. Yes, it is a lot of fiberglass to cut but to keep in a budget I must do that.

Regarding the fiberglass for the bottom, I hope someone has some reference too

Thanks a lot!!

I have cut a lot of glass with a razor/utility knife. Dulls the blades pretty quick but they are cheap and easy to replace. Cutting a lot of glass with scissors can be hard on the hands, more so if it is heavy glass. Never broke down and bought a pair of electric scissors but I am pretty sure I should have.

The woodflour I used in my build is 75 micron.
I put it through a flour sieve before mixing with epoxy.
A 9kg bag, which was more than emough to build a 22' boat was A$126 plus freight.

The break away razor knives work great for cutting fiberglass. Put your glass on a cheap sheet of plywood with one side smooth and clamp a board down to guide for the cut. Keeping the glass in place with a lot of pressure on the board will keep the cut clean. Have to hold the blade at the perfect angle to get long snag free cuts and break the tip off often to keep a sharp point. First sign of pulling the glass threads renew the point. Going through 100 razor blades would be cheaper than one electric pair of scissors. I would think razor knifes would be something you could get locally too.

Good luck and be sure and post pictures of progress!

I'm going to disagree with these guys. Razor blades work, but a pair of fibreglass scissors works better. If you can find it.

Having built a D5, I used biaxial glass on all seams then glassed over with 200g cloth. If I were doing it over I'd skip the biaxial and just use 200g cloth. Overlap on chines and keel so you have 400 there. Cut some tape from it as well. Mine is well overbuilt, but still only 35kg (40 including the wheels).

https://www.bluemarinestore.com/mainten ... d-fillers/

These guys are local to you and have all you need. I'd skip the wood flour unless you trust the supplier and use WEST fillers. It might cost more but you know that you can trust them. Fillers 405, 406 and 407 (or 410 Microlight) would be all you need. 405 for fillets and glue. 407 and 410 for finishing.

A google of WEST Systems will give a lot of information about their products.