Fibreglassing the hull.

18 September 2022

I purchased a product called Botecote, which is a far safer alternative than standard, solvent-based resins. Over 300GSM fibreglass mat, (kindly donated) it has a good coverage, (5m2 per 1Litre) and a 45 minute pot-life. The purchase also included a drum of filler for low spots afterwards.

It’s also low allergy, low toxicity, among other features of this more modern technology in resins.

Here’s the link if you want to check out the product. https://boatcraft.com.au/Shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15

I started on the underside of the starboard wing for practice, as it is a new product to me and I am a little out of practice since my last big fibreglassing job.

The wing has some compound outside angles and some recesses, so this was a good test to see how much I could get the mat to mold to these shapes.

22 October 2022

Now that both wings are fully covered, it’s time to move onto the rest of the fuselage. I started at the nose, as I knew it would be a good test, as there are a lot of inside and outside curves and corners to mould the fibreglass around. Getting the glass to stick to upside-down surfaces was easier than I thought it would be. after that it was a matter of covering the avionics recesses with cardboard, before continuing to glass down the rest of the fuselage.

30 November 2022