1. Epoxy bonds to wood better than polyester resin. Epoxy also smells much less.
2.
http://www.fiberglasssource.com/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=88
2.http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/Product_Catalog/Reinforcements/Fiberglass_Fabrics/fiberglass_fabrics.html
3. Epoxy hardener is Nasty stuff. Polyester resin catlayst is also really nasty. Latex or nitrile gloves.
Polyester in a heated garage will stink for weeks and infect whole house if part of same building.
4. Wipe possibly contaminated dirty wood with rag soaked in denatured alcohol. Then sand with grain. Then wipe with DNA again.
5. Laminating wood, one needs to completely saturate wood. Easier to seal wood first with clean dry car wash sponge cut into smaller sections. With epoxy, once this is just barely tacky, Drape precut fiberglass cloth over portion of wood. Mix more epoxy. One can use a foam brush to saturate. Work from center to edges pulling cloth tight and excess epoxy out. Overworking it will make epoxy foam up. try and avoid. Let gravity and time saturate epoxy, rather than trying to force saturate cloth. Warm resin is thinner, saturates fabrics faster, but gets thick faster too.
Lighter weight cloth saturates faster, but requires more layers. A weak surfboard has two layers of 3.7 oz( per square yard) cloth on the deck and one on the bottom. A fairly well glassed surfboard has 2 layers of 5.6 oz cloth on deck and one on the hull. Not sure how strong you need it. A durable heavier surfboard will have 3 layers on the deck and 2 layers by the fins on the hull. If weight is not a factor......go thicker for strength.
Epoxy dust is Inert once fully cured, which takes about 3 to 4 days. Avoid getting uncured epoxy dust on skin and in eyeballs/ lungs. Dust mask required.
If damp/humid, the epoxy chosen, might blush. Which is like a white chalky surface. An additional layer of epoxy will not bond to the blush, It is water soluble, but DNA on a rag and a little elbow grease works. One does not want wood sucking water at this point.
If epoxy is not tacky, secondary bonding of more layers of epoxy, with or without cloth, should have the surface scratched, no shiny spots anywhere, and dust removed.
6. Fiberglass, well, cut it along the weave, not across the weave. Sharp scissors or simply don't bother Pull out a few strands on the edges of the precut patches. Cuts across the weave will make a mess during laminating.
Plastic, like zip lock clear freezer bags, does not stick to epoxy and does not affect its ability to harden. This placed over a flat surface, and then a hard squeegee pushing excess epoxy from middle to edges can make it easy and pretty and require no sanding, or simply much much less. This method can also really stretch the fiberglass Tightly across the wood.
7. I have all this stuff, and know how to use it, but I am not sure I would use it in this application. I might instead buy some aluminum and drill some holes. Could be a heck of a lot cheaper.
Composites are a lot of work, and wrapping fiberglass cloth around corners and edges cleanly takes some practce and a certain mindset.
This guy makes it look easy. He is using polyester resin. Epoxy would be similar in method, but would get aerated moving the squeegee that fast over the cloth. Some guys use a foam roller to fully saturate and then just pull the excess epoxy to the edges, from middle, and not reworking the same area over and over
Glassing over wood is actually easier than over foam as one can see when the cloth is undersaturated easier. One can skip sealing the wood before laying cloth over it, but one needs to go heavier on the epoxy and let it soak in completely before squeegeeing of excess.
Another method is Laying precut patches on clean uncreased cardboard. Wet them out let it soak in, then wet out the wood until it no longer looks thirsty, and then squeegee excess resin from cloth patches on cardboard, then carefully lift with gloved fingers and lay in place. making sure it is tight and no excess resin is under the cloth, causing it to 'float' on top of too much epoxy.
The strength is in the cloth, not the epoxy. Too much epoxy might be OK, but it could cause a less flexible spot, which then causes a weak spot in the immetiate area
Hows that Aluminum sounding now?
