Fiberglass body repair
Discussion
Demon thieves used to stock a book called something like repairing fibreglass cars. looked a bit 80's in the pics and showed bits of a Dutton from memory being repaired.
search t'interweb for boat repairs toon as most marine stuff is 'glass too.
what are you repairing? generally a 'ding' will break the panel in a couple of areas (often above wheel arches on Tivs in a frontal impact)but leave the bulk intact. usually its a case of hoding the sections in the correct realtionship, and then glass behind it. once a couple fo layers are on, then turn your attention to the outer section. often need to cut or gring into the 'good' bits around the damage and also key into it. glass over the top, trying to get as much cloth into the damaged area. invariably the joint will be weaker athn the original weave, but with GRP panels where they take little weight or strength, its no big deal. a little extra cloth galssed in behind the break out of sight will help if you think extra strength is needed.
once its structurally back together, the slight surface imperfections can be filled with resin and filler powder, and then a flowcoat over the top (gelcoat with hardener so that its goes off and doesnt stay tacky like gel coat). after that its usual paint body prep.
watch for air bubbles in the resin, try and fill as much of the break with cloth and resin as is poss. the bubbles can affect the paint surface once painted otherwise.
im sure experts will be along in amo to fill in more specifics, but above has always worked for me :-)
CNH
search t'interweb for boat repairs toon as most marine stuff is 'glass too.
what are you repairing? generally a 'ding' will break the panel in a couple of areas (often above wheel arches on Tivs in a frontal impact)but leave the bulk intact. usually its a case of hoding the sections in the correct realtionship, and then glass behind it. once a couple fo layers are on, then turn your attention to the outer section. often need to cut or gring into the 'good' bits around the damage and also key into it. glass over the top, trying to get as much cloth into the damaged area. invariably the joint will be weaker athn the original weave, but with GRP panels where they take little weight or strength, its no big deal. a little extra cloth galssed in behind the break out of sight will help if you think extra strength is needed.
once its structurally back together, the slight surface imperfections can be filled with resin and filler powder, and then a flowcoat over the top (gelcoat with hardener so that its goes off and doesnt stay tacky like gel coat). after that its usual paint body prep.
watch for air bubbles in the resin, try and fill as much of the break with cloth and resin as is poss. the bubbles can affect the paint surface once painted otherwise.
im sure experts will be along in amo to fill in more specifics, but above has always worked for me :-)
CNH
Thanks for that. Had a look on the web expecting to find articles detailing what to do but no luck, had a look at the normal booksellers but nothing seemed to really fit the bill. The Fiberglass books that are listed seem to deal with building from new rather than repairing.
I have (had) a coupe of wounds in the boot floor and rear panel of a Tiv and have fairly much done as you suggested. I did find that to get the rear panel to line up correctly it was better to cut out the crack which allowed it to spring back into place. Then as you say I simply cleaned up the inside and glassed a patch panel to hold it in line then filled the hole with more glass and then finished with filler. What I don’t really understand is what Gel coat is. I have simply used normal glass matting, resin and hardener then ground and sanded it down to be level with the original. Other than a slightly different colour it was difficult to see a difference between the original and the repair inside or out. Where does the Gel coat come in ?
I have (had) a coupe of wounds in the boot floor and rear panel of a Tiv and have fairly much done as you suggested. I did find that to get the rear panel to line up correctly it was better to cut out the crack which allowed it to spring back into place. Then as you say I simply cleaned up the inside and glassed a patch panel to hold it in line then filled the hole with more glass and then finished with filler. What I don’t really understand is what Gel coat is. I have simply used normal glass matting, resin and hardener then ground and sanded it down to be level with the original. Other than a slightly different colour it was difficult to see a difference between the original and the repair inside or out. Where does the Gel coat come in ?
Poledriver said:
Just what I was looking for, thanks steve-V8s said:
Poledriver said:
Just what I was looking for, thanks I found this one useful also;-
http://www.rochdale-owners-club.co.uk/technical.ht...
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