FriscoBoaters's 1986 Glastron Carlson CVX-18 Restoration: Tabbing and foaming the Deck

Well, it is time for another big update. The past two weeks have been full of progress. I ran out of 1708 and had to order more before I could tab the deck in. Once I had more goodies, we tabbed the deck on with two overlapping layers of 1708 all the way around the hull perimeter, and one layer on the deck seams. I did not do the seams on the sea ray as they all fell in a bulkhead, and were supported enough. The seams in this boat are floating, and I need the strength.

When the tabbing was cured and I had about four hours to spare we filled the hull with 16 cubic feet (two 16lb kits from us composites) of foam below the deck. I drilled a bunch of 1.5 inch holes and a bunch of 3/8" holes to let out the air. I have seen alot of guys do this before the deck goes down, shave the excess, and then put resin on it. I really do not like to do it that way as the foam helps stiffen the deck, and if the deck has any flex to it, you will hear it rubbing on the foam below. If you take you time and pour in small increments, this way provides a better result.

Once we got the deck foamed, and more resin arrived, we put down two layers of 1.5 oz CSM over the whole deck overlapping the seams by four inches. Doing this used up a staggering 3.5 gallons of resin to get it properly wet out. It always amazes me how much resin it takes. What was really crazy is how much it heated up the garage as it cured.

After all of this it was time to think about how we were going to build the tank structure. The two uprights actually support the front part of the cap, and they need to be correct. Sooo, the plan hatched in my head was to put the cap back on and rig up a hoist system so that we can raise and lower the cap to we can build and then test fit out pieces. I called my neighbor and we all grabbed a corner and slide the cap back on . I was really worried about the hull flaring out, and when the cap dropped on with little problems, I was relieved.

I feel like we are actually starting to round the corner on this project, but the costs just keep mounting up. I guess I really knew this would happen, but hey, I love this stuff.

After receiving some feedback about putting 1708 straight onto wood, and how much resin I was using I called US composites to confirm I was doing this right. Their tech guy said a layer of CSM first on a stringer is not needed as long as your surface is smooth (I.E. nice rounded fillets). Because the 1708 has CSM right on the back allows you to do this. Now they could have said yes just to sell more material, so I believe he is being honest. He also said that my usage was correct, and maybe a little over, but a resin rich piece is better than a resin starved piece of glass. You also have to consider waste. I am using cloth rollers that soak up the resin, and I am going though alot, and I would not be surprised if I have a couple gallons of waste from the buckets and rollers. Plus I made up all the PB for the fillets which used alot too. So, moving along.

Here is how the tabs looked on the deck.

Just doing the tabs used almost two gallons of resin

Now it was time for the Foam. I purchased two 16lb kits from US composites for this job, and I used ALLLLL of it.

I used two smaller buckets for the part A and part B measuring and then used a larger bucket for mixing. I had four large buckets, and once one had fully cured, we would pull out the foam and use it again. So by the time I went through the four, the first one was ready.