Making small fiberglass parts...

There has been a small but obnoxious rain leak in the aft cabin of my small sailboat.
It looks like the source is where the outboard motor control cables pass through
in the cockpit foot well wall.  There was just an open hole there and the rain was getting in.

That ought to be easy to fix. It just needs a cover that will keep the rain out instead of funneling it into the locker.
But where would that come from?
Who has the right size and shape in stock?

I couldn't find exactly what I thought I needed, so I decided to bite the bullet and make it instead.

This picture is the end result.  Just a small cover to divert the rain water away from the hole in the wall.

This was made in one afternoon and evening - hand laid fiberglass...

Step 1:

First thing you need is a mold!
Use your imagination!
This one is a soda bottle (filled with water to hold shape)

Three layers of glass cloth were laid on and wet out with West epoxy.

West System has a lot of information on how to mix and use their resins
as well as safety precautions.  
Read the books and follow the directions. 
It's not complicated, but mix ratios are important - so get it right!

Comments

[lancer6x]

This is great. I have soo much west system just lying around and this gave me some inspiration to develop a fiberglassing tallent. I'm gonna go play around right now and see what i can make

[jaelanne]

Awesome :D

[cavelamb]

Love your hat, jaelanne!

[Mrballeng]

How about "getting fiberglass splinters out of your skin" for a future instructable :). This is really going to help. This will work great to protect the back side of speakers so shoving life vests into storage compartments doesn't damage them. Thank you!!!

[V31JoePalooka]

I use either duct tape or packing tape. The sticky side grabs up those glass hairs quite well, and cactus hairs as well. Very good job, Cavelamb.

[alaskanbychoice]

Using a really sticky tape has helped me romoved a few splinters in the past. Not getting them in the first place is best obviously.

[cavelamb]

COLD shower! :)

But the best advice is to avoid getting fiberglass splinters/dust/shavings on your skin.

[finton]

That is a beautiful piece of work, cavelamb! If we add your custom fibreglassing to the PVC inspiration we get from Thinkenstein, there're really no limits are there?

[cavelamb]

Nope!

Have fun.

[yoyology]

I want to make a fingerboard for a ukulele. But i'll use paper instead of the glass cloth. That's another instructable, though.

That's a beautiful piece of work. Did you use caulk to seal it to the bulkhead, or some kind of gasket material?

[probablepossible]

Thanks for the paper idea-- I can think of all sorts of textured/fibers/printed papers that would create beautiful fingerboards!

[yoyology]

Take a look at these two 'ibles. I got the idea from them.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-homemade-micarta/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Mokume-Kireji-DIY-Woodgrain-Composites/

[probablepossible]

wow. Bookmarking those. I love playing with color.

[cavelamb]

For sealing deck hardware I use a very high quality butyl rubber tape.

[alaskanbychoice]

Great instructable. Lots of information and well done. Thanks.

[DanYHKim]

Very nice work. In the initial picture, I kept looking carefully to see the 'home made' cover, until I realized that the part that I thought was store-bought was the piece that you made. You took great pains to make it look good.

Using a soda bottle as a mold was a real inspiration.

[cavelamb]

My GF said "store bought" is a compliment - unless talking about wedding cakes.
(I took that as a thinly veiled hint) :)

There is no reason for fiberglass to look "home made".
It's just too easy to make it look slick as it can be.

[cavelamb]

PS:

DAnYHKim,
I made a stylus for my Android phone from your Instructable.
And it even works!

Thanks.

Richard