cooters T bucket build
- Thread starter cooter
- Start date
scott haley
Member
good pics on the pages. I can see what I might need. Im glad people post pics. looking a different pictures, we can tell if what we are doing is close to correct. Reading thread and research is the biggest help #6
Island Girl
Well-Known Member
If you're referring to bondo as it usually refers to body filler . . .
Please reconsider. You only get one chance to do this right
Bondo has very little adhesive quality or strength. . . . at least relative to other options
Use an epoxy based resin with something like colloidal silica filler to get a suitable mixture to fill the voids and irregularities between the flat wood and not so flat door/body to bond the wood to the fiberglass parts.
Then use epoxy resin with suitable cloth/mat to glass it all together.
I'd suggest bonding and glassing in the door frame around the door perimeter before you cut the door out.
Once you cut out the door, the body will change shape, but if you have the perimeter bonded and glassed in, it will go a long way towards keeping it locked in it's pre door cut shape
Please reconsider. You only get one chance to do this right
Bondo has very little adhesive quality or strength. . . . at least relative to other options
Use an epoxy based resin with something like colloidal silica filler to get a suitable mixture to fill the voids and irregularities between the flat wood and not so flat door/body to bond the wood to the fiberglass parts.
Then use epoxy resin with suitable cloth/mat to glass it all together.
I'd suggest bonding and glassing in the door frame around the door perimeter before you cut the door out.
Once you cut out the door, the body will change shape, but if you have the perimeter bonded and glassed in, it will go a long way towards keeping it locked in it's pre door cut shape
Last edited:
fletcherson
Well-Known Member
Wow, is that body that flat? I had to carve custom pieces to fit the body contour. My body is an old one, from the ‘70” s. Good luck!
2old2fast
Active Member
I'm not trying to be argumentative but I have replaced transoms in 1/2 dozen boats using polyester products , repaired Corvettes , motorcycle fairings , travel trailers , bathtubs , the list goes on , short strand po!yester filler is an excellent adhesive , polyester resin and matte or cloth have never failed to bond and stay bonded . Epoxy ( west system and others) is wonderful stuff but it's very expensive comparatively and IMO , overkill for what we're doing here ! After all , what sense does it make to use something other than what the product is made from to fix it ?
2old2fast
Active Member
Mine too. Even broke out the power planer and belt sander.....frame started at 1 1/2" thick to get 3/4 thick at the top and stay in line in both planes...
cooter
Well-Known Member
I had to do some belt sanding on it to fit.
Island Girl
Well-Known Member
Glad you asked, as it's come up before . . . .
When something is made with polyester resin, it all cures together at the same time which means that there is bonding at a molecular level. If you go to add something or repair it later, after it's cured, there can't be any bonding at that original molecular level . . . you have to rely on adhesion strength alone between what was added and what was original.
Epoxy resin has 20% better adhesion than polyester, so using epoxy for repairs or modifications on cured polyester is notably stronger.
I agree that West is expensive, but it isn't going to take that much to put in a door, and when you look at the amount of additional body and frame flex that's going to occur once the door area is cut out of the body, it just seems reasonable to go with the best you can get.
Similar threads
