How much resin?

[DG]

I'm making a simple deck extension and want to encase the plywood in fiberglass. How much resin will it take to completely encase a piece of 5/8 plywood 24"x44"? Do I need to rough up the plywood for the resin to adhere?

[jseasor]

you'll need resin, and hardner and put a little acetone in for easier spreading. id's say you'll need atleast one bottle for something that size, mayne not that much. always do two coats though if you have time. allow to dry though before the 2nd coat goes on.

[BASSCAT7]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm making a simple deck extension and want to encase the plywood in fiberglass. How much resin will it take to completely encase a piece of 5/8 plywood 24"x44"? Do I need to rough up the plywood for the resin to adhere?</TD></TR></TABLE>

You do not need to rough up the plywood. A rule of thumb when applying resin to plywood is about 3 ounces for each square foot of wood to be covered, so for you application to do both sides of the piece of wood about 48 ounces of resin.

Thinning resin with styrene or acetone for wood application will reduce the physical properties of it.

Typically you can add 3 to 5% and not notice a big difference, but as more is added the the resin can become brittle, plus less water and UV resistant.

The resin will soak in without thinning, encapsualtion is what keeps wood rot out.

[cwadams]

[DG]

Ya'll sure make it look easy in your pics but I guess I'm not cut out for fiberglass work. I had that stuff all over the place last night. Got one side of the plywood glassed and will work on the other tonight. I went ahead a bought a gallon of fiberglass resin and some cloth. Didn't want to run short and figured I'd use it later if I had some left over.

[BASSCAT7]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ya'll sure make it look easy in your pics but I guess I'm not cut out for fiberglass work. I had that stuff all over the place last night. Got one side of the plywood glassed and will work on the other tonight. I went ahead a bought a gallon of fiberglass resin and some cloth. Didn't want to run short and figured I'd use it later if I had some left over.</TD></TR></TABLE>
'
LOL........Glass work is one of the messiest in the business, you see now why a competent shop gets $$$$ for doing work, especially any type of gelcoat finish work.
Good luck with the rest.

[cwadams]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ya'll sure make it look easy in your pics but I guess I'm not cut out for fiberglass work. I had that stuff all over the place last night. Got one side of the plywood glassed and will work on the other tonight. I went ahead a bought a gallon of fiberglass resin and some cloth. Didn't want to run short and figured I'd use it later if I had some left over.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I am not a pro...but this is what I found...
When I bought the Epoxy 635 Thin it comes with a 1/2 gallon of hardener.
http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html

I did add a tube of green pigment, However...I laid some tarps down, set the plywood on blocks, put on rubber gloves, AND used a paintbrush to put it on. The Thin epoxy is very runny like paint almost. I laid the Deck down and painted the epoxy on. (I found that fiberglass Resin is MUCH thicker and hardens FASTER whereas the thin epoxy is consistency like paint) just my $.02.
btw...working with the cloth is messy too :)

[DG]

I checked out your project and I don't think I would ever undertake something that extensive. You did an excellent job. Give me something mechanical to work on and I'm fine but glass work is not for me