andyatos
Well-Known Member
So, today... my birthday... what did I do for fun? Well, what any responsible Laser owner would do; immerse myself in West System resin, catalyst and cloth and finish up my mast step reinforcement project!
For the sake of those who will go through the process in the future, here's a bit about what I did.
- Four, 10 inch long, 2 inch wide fiberglass cloth (sewn edges) strips running vertically from 5 inches up the mast tube to out on to the hull floor at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock.
- Four, 11 inch long, 2 inch wide fiberglass cloth strips doing the same thing as above, except they were laid over the mast step pot corners at 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 and 10:30. This created an overlap on all the vertical strips.
- On these 11 inch long corner strips, I cut them down the middle right where the corner point started... so as to make laying them flat over the compound curves in that area easier.
- Over the vertical strips that went 5 inches up the mast tube, I wrapped a 4 inch wide (tall) strip of cloth that overlapped itself about an inch.
- Over the 4 inch wide wrap I did another one, only it was 2 inches wide. I did this to thicken up the bottom of the mast tube because you could see light through the very thin wall... when looking down the mast tube from the deck... when I'd shine my utility light on the front of it from inside the boat. I'm guessing mast movement slowly wore the inside of the wall down over time.
- I was going to repeat the process of the vertical strips on the outside of the 4 inch wrap with strips that ran 3 inches up the mast tube and out on to the floor but got burned out on the process. Plus, there was a lot of resin building up from all the layers (driven by gravity towards the bottom of the mast tube) by that point so I canned the idea.
Funny though... it doesn't look like there's a lot of layers and resin in the photo. The work looks paper thin.
Here's the photo.
Learned a lot. The hardest part was working in that blind spot behind the mast with only a mirror, one eye and one hand trying to lay the split corner strips so they wouldn't have folds sticking up. And the most useful tool for the entire job by far? My fingers inside a surgical glove.
Glad that's over,
- Andy
For the sake of those who will go through the process in the future, here's a bit about what I did.
- Four, 10 inch long, 2 inch wide fiberglass cloth (sewn edges) strips running vertically from 5 inches up the mast tube to out on to the hull floor at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock.
- Four, 11 inch long, 2 inch wide fiberglass cloth strips doing the same thing as above, except they were laid over the mast step pot corners at 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 and 10:30. This created an overlap on all the vertical strips.
- On these 11 inch long corner strips, I cut them down the middle right where the corner point started... so as to make laying them flat over the compound curves in that area easier.
- Over the vertical strips that went 5 inches up the mast tube, I wrapped a 4 inch wide (tall) strip of cloth that overlapped itself about an inch.
- Over the 4 inch wide wrap I did another one, only it was 2 inches wide. I did this to thicken up the bottom of the mast tube because you could see light through the very thin wall... when looking down the mast tube from the deck... when I'd shine my utility light on the front of it from inside the boat. I'm guessing mast movement slowly wore the inside of the wall down over time.
- I was going to repeat the process of the vertical strips on the outside of the 4 inch wrap with strips that ran 3 inches up the mast tube and out on to the floor but got burned out on the process. Plus, there was a lot of resin building up from all the layers (driven by gravity towards the bottom of the mast tube) by that point so I canned the idea.
Funny though... it doesn't look like there's a lot of layers and resin in the photo. The work looks paper thin.
Here's the photo.
Learned a lot. The hardest part was working in that blind spot behind the mast with only a mirror, one eye and one hand trying to lay the split corner strips so they wouldn't have folds sticking up. And the most useful tool for the entire job by far? My fingers inside a surgical glove.
Glad that's over,
- Andy