Fleece or fiberglass cloth?

[T-Bucket Bob]

Hey Guys,

Which is better when fiberglass over foral foam, fleece or fiberglass cloth?

Thanks, T-Bucket Bob

 

[fletcherson]

What are you trying to accomplish? From my limited experience, fleece is basically used to make shapes, like bubbles, or strange awkward areas where you can't lay up traditional cloth. It's value is that it is stretchy and will allow us to mold things that aren't flat. I don't think fleece is very strong, at least not structurally. There are different types of fiberglass cloth to accomplish different things. You can use chopped mat to form stuff. Fiberglass cloth is going to be much stronger and be less work to get a smooth finish if you can form it to suit your project. If you can be a little more specific as to what you are building, I am sure you will get some good replies to help.

 

[T-Bucket Bob]

I am using it for the inside of my t bucket. I have foral foam in it and wanted to glass over
it.

 

[fletcherson]

Here is what I think, I presume you are doing around the tub at the top and inside. I would think that the fleece would be prone to wrinkle doing a inside curve, I haven't used it for anything like that, so I would try using chopped glass matting. I have used it for similar round objects and it does ok. I pre cut it and dry fit so I can remove any excess areas that tend to wrinkle by cutting slices or v in it then wet the area well, install it and roll the daylights out of it with a bubble buster. It does better on curved surfaces after it sits wet for a short time. I used it to make my dash and it is a pretty tight curve. Anything flat or close to it would defidently be glass cloth as well. My .02 worth. Here is a FYI, if you don't know for sure that your foam is resistant to the resin, cover it with something to prevent it from getting wet so it won't melt. I used some blue foam that melted, so I covered it with cellophane packing tape and it done just fine. I am by no means a pro at this, just giving my experience, so feel free to seek other advise to get the best answer for your project.