Ottawa County news. (Port Clinton, Ohio) 1931-1956, 1953-07-24
FIBERGLAS USED
IN BOAT REPAIR

Large boats as well as small
ones may be repaired and streng-
thened with Fiberglas reinforced
plastic
This has been proven by Rob-
ert B. Kyle. operator of Catawba
Marine Sales on nearby Catawba
Island, summer resort area on Lake
Erie.
Mr.. Kyle has just finished COW
ering the hull of a 31-foot fishing
cruiser with three laminations of
FiberglaS cloth and resin. He alst
has placed the canvas on the deck
and cabin top of 32-foot cruiser
with one lamination, consisting of
one layer of cloth and three of
resin.
The Catawba Marine Sales has
covered the hulls of number Of
small boats, but these two pro-
jects were the largest completed
so far. The new deck covering
with Fiberglas and resin is be
lieved to be the first of its kind
in the Port Clinton area.
The new covering on the bottom
of the large fishing cruiser was
installed primarily to give the
boat added strength as the owner
expects to replace the two lis
horsepower engines with two of
las horsepower each.
However, it also has an extra
advantage in that the Fiberglas-
resin covering will prevent the
plywood bottom from absorbing
water. Mr.. Kyle figures boat of
that size with plywood bottom
ordinarily absorbs half ton of
water during a season. Without
this 1000 pounds of weight the
cruiser should function more eco
nomically and travel as fast at the
end of the summer as when it was
placed in the water at the begin
ming.
The fishing cruiser, unlike small
boats, could not be turned upside
down while the work was in prog
ress. Consequently the covering
operations resembled somewhat
the hanging of wallpaper on
ceiling. The boat was set on
blocks while the work was done.
After the bottom had been COM
pletely sanded to remove all old
paint, Mr.. Kyle and his assistant,
Robert P. Johnson, applied Kris
tai Kraft resin on a small area.
Then the Fiberglas cloth was
pressed against the resin-covered
area and coating of resin applied
over it. This operation was repeat
ed until the entire boat bottom
had been covered with one layer
of cloth and two of resin. Then a
second and third lamination was
done in the same manner.
Thirty yards of Fiberglas cloth
were used in each lamination,
making a total of 80 yards for the
entire project. The cloth is avail
able from Kristal Kraft, Inc, Pal
metto, Fla, in 44-inch wide rolls
of various lengths. 1t is made
from fibrous glass yarn produced
by Owens-Corning Fiberglas Cor
poration, Toledo, O.
The cloth is only .O15 of an inch
thick and the complete new COW
ering of three laminations is only
three-sixteenths of an inch thick.
Total weight for the new covering
is estimated at 120 pounds, about
IL per cent of the extra weight
usually collected through water
absorption.
The resin was spread with paint
brushes while the Fiberglas fabric
was pressed on by hand and
squeegees. It was simple matter
to trim the fabric with pocket
knives to fit around the propeller
shafts.
The Fiberglas-resin covering
was placed on the deck and cabin
top of the other cruiser for water
proofing purposes. In this case the
original canvas covering had de-
Perforated to the point it no long
er was useful. The new covering,
however, should be permanent.
Six yards of Fiberglas cloth
were used on the trunk cabin deck
and another Is yards on the cabin