What Glass and Resin???

[89Mach1]

Ok, so it seems like it's been FOREVER!!!! I hate reading through pages upon pages of threads and you get to the end and NOTHING! No outcome, no explanation, zip! So, I WILL finish this thread.

The platform is DONE! It was suppose to go on today, but has been raining since this afternoon. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, 40% chance of rain though. Anyways.... It came out better than I expected. The top was sprayed with a non-skid additive to the paint that picked up at a local West Marine. This stuff is AMAZING! 2 coats on top of a couple coats of regular paint, it feels and looks like it came out of a mold!

All in all, I'm very impressed! I would recommend this stuff to anyone looking to do the same. I don't have any pics just yet, but I will tomorrow.

Dave- thanks for the help!!!

Jay

[89Mach1]

Seems to me that epoxy would be over kill for a platform like that. 1 1/2" of plywood should give it considerable strength on its own. I wouldn't think you would need all that much glass on it either. I can't imagine it flexing much even with just one layer of 1708 on each side. I built something similar with 1 1/2" foam (just the pink chit from home depot actually) and 2 layers of 1708 on each side for a buddies boat and it was solid as a rock.

Do you think that it would be strong enough for a new hatch? The guy that had the boat before me went a bit crazy back there... 2 layers of 3/4" pressure treated!! It weighs a TON! I'd like to make a new one over the winter and lose a little weight back there. Thanks!

Jay

[Trim'd Up]

Do you think that it would be strong enough for a new hatch? The guy that had the boat before me went a bit crazy back there... 2 layers of 3/4" pressure treated!! It weighs a TON! I'd like to make a new one over the winter and lose a little weight back there. Thanks!

Jay

Yeah, but if not if you put a couple of braces under it it definately would be. I am hopefully finishing mine this weekend and it is made from 3/4" divyncell. I still plan on glassing in a couple of cross members but it weighs maybe 20-25 lbs. I can pick it up with one hand and the old one needed 2 men and a boy to pick it up.

[89Mach1]

Yeah, but if not if you put a couple of braces under it it definately would be. I am hopefully finishing mine this weekend and it is made from 3/4" divyncell. I still plan on glassing in a couple of cross members but it weighs maybe 20-25 lbs. I can pick it up with one hand and the old one needed 2 men and a boy to pick it up.

Awesome! I'll have to give it a shot then. Maybe this fall after I winterize I'll take the old hatch off and see what I can come up with. Thanks!

[89Mach1]

Ok, so here it is. Did the install today with a buddy, took a lot longer than I would have thought! Came out pretty good, I'm happy with it!!!

[89Mach1]

One more, tried to capture the "non-skid" but you can't really tell the texture from the pic.

[glassdave]

looks great, whats the symbol on it?

[89Mach1]

Kind of an inside joke between myself and a couple friends, but it means "bad dudes" haha

[jeffswav]

Nice job on the platform. I am working on my transom now and thinking about the gel coat. I may shoot the floor in my cuddy with that non skid, I like it.

[89Mach1]

That stuff would be perfect for a floor! Even when wet I don't think you could slip on it and it's soft on your feet to boot!

[jeffswav]

I am still working on my transom as you can see from my post. If I run out of time before spring the cuddy project will have to wait. I have plenty of gel to do the transom, bilge and cuddy. I have some "Auquamat" that I can have bound to fit the floor so the non skid is not really nessary, but it looks like a great idea.

[Offshore Ginger]

89 mack1 L@@king g@@d

[89Mach1]

89 mack1 L@@king g@@d

Thanks! It was a fun little project/learning experience. I planned on making a new engine hatch and rear seat this winter, but work has been extremely slow so I've been watching my pennies all winter. Hopefully in the spring I'll have some extra money and can get back to my plans!

[Offshore Ginger]

Thanks! It was a fun little project/learning experience. I planned on making a new engine hatch and rear seat this winter, but work has been extremely slow so I've been watching my pennies all winter. Hopefully in the spring I'll have some extra money and can get back to my plans!

I hate to say this but it seems like there are whole lot of us out there watching are pennies .

[baldtires]

how much money do you think you have in the swim platform? it looks great. i was thinking of doing something similar in the spring.

[89Mach1]

About $400. My friend's brother in-law has a body shop so I had him do the paint on it and he charged me $200. I think I had about $100 in glass/resin, $40 in plywood, maybe $20 in stainless hardware to mount it, $10 on a tube of marine silicone, $20 on the non-skid additive for the paint, and I had the tubing in my garage from a previous project and a tube bender, so I bent the tubing and did the welding myself.

Post up some pics if you decide to go for it! It's a fun project and was a learning experience for me. I had never done fiberglass work before, but being a finish carpenter I can do a lot with wood, so the building of it was the easy part, about 3-4 hours, it was the fiberglass that took forever!! Talk about a dirty job, Mike Rowe should go pay GlassDave a visit for a day!!!!

[89Mach1]

Just an update......... 2 summers have gone by with lots of traffic on the swim platform and it's holding up great! It still looks as new as it did the day I installed it. No leaks from any of the mounting holes (I know this because of a transom assembly swap, long story...) The non-skid additive in the paint has dulled down a touch but still has proven itself to me, so I'm very happy all in all!

[rschap1]

Congrats
That was a pretty cool read
I had thoughts of doing one many times
Most of my ideas usually revolved around rectangular aluminum tube and star board material...maybe someday I will get off my duff...
doubtful