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Mark's Web Site
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Date: 5-4-2017
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Number of Hours: 1.00
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Manual Reference: 34-14
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Brief Description: starting the fiberglass (34-14)
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As always there are several lessons learned as I start doing the fiberglass. First, I had put down 3 layers of vinyl tape across the top edge, which turned out to be a good idea (so far), since I ended up peeling it off to make sure the top edge was right up against the edge. With the black resin it was hard to see through to see if I was over the tape or not. Second, I had the bright idea to mix up a lot of resin (15 pumps) so that I would have enough to pre cover the glass and the first layer of each side piece as well as a piece across the top. This was a bad idea, the resin started to really heat up, which made it start to cure super-fast and in fact started smoking and melting my Solo cup. Lesson learned, mix up small batches (5 pumps max). Third, I applied the black resin first to the glass and foam, and then went in to coat the fiberglass pieces. Then by the time I was ready to make my first layup of the glass the pre-coating had run off and was dripping everywhere and really thin. Lesson learned, get the fiber glass sections ready in advance, and then paint on a pre-coat layer just before layup. This way the resin is a little thicker and stickier. Forth, if you only mix up 5 pumps worth, you should have plenty of time to soak up each section (left, right, top) one at a time. I was concerned because the first batch cured so quickly that I thought I had to rush...not so. Fifth, I chose to do each side and a top piece all at the same point, instead of 2 separate times (as called out in the manual, 34-14 & 34-15)...this seemed to work out really well. Towards the end I started adding 2 layers across the top for each side piece. For each layer I started with a new batch of resin mixture. Sixth, I only added black pigment to the first layer...all other layers were just with clear resin, which was recommended by the RV-14 Vans video. Seventh, make sure you have a helper…Cyndi was a huge help and I couldn’t have done it without her.
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applied a coat of resin directly to canopy
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black resin on foam blocks and canopy
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black resin on canopy and foam
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