glass dash in a splash

[Techno]

I had to fix my upper swiss cheesed dashboard and decided to cut it out and reglass it. The method might be usefull for back in the brain if you need it sometime.

The idea is to laminate as the boat was made. From gelcoat to last layer.
I found some masonite like board at the hardware store called whiteboard. It has a plastic coating on it and is just a step saver. It already has a smooth finish. The plan is to produce a finished finish without any work.

I more or less cut to fit and forced this board in position over the hole. Also forced the lower section down to increase the dash space slightly. But that don't matter here. The board fit just about perfect except the ends. Got impatiant and went ahead anyway.

The hole had already been cut and beveled on the inside. Also sanded a good overlap area for good bond since it was painted black.

Now already. This is all done on my back under the dash, from the back.
Painted the whiteboard with mold release. 1/2 hour later 1st coat of gellcoat. Before that had completey went 2nd coat.
Layer of mat, 2 of cloth, 1 roving and 1 cloth. The cloth only because the anal layer of roving wouldn't do the outside bend and stick. Even the cloth was followed with some panic paper. The cloth wasn't quite holding either and saw some blue prints that looked kind of waxy.
1 day of laying up and it was done.


This picture shows the finished dash. The cheese cut out is over it just for comparision. Above is the white board reversed so it would stay there for the picture.

[Techno]

The purple suran wrap looking stuff is the mold release. It washes off with water. The board came off with gentle anticipation and no problems.
When I cut the dash, the ends were done with a hole saw and the length with a grinder and cutting wheel for steel.
The board was placed in and held while a pen on a block of wood traced the curve. This produced the fit at the bottom.

The ends buckled out some and this will get roughed up and filled but left low. I'm going to slather a bit of gel on the board and use it as a flat leveler. This should reduce the sanding to squeeze out and the seam.

The rest of the new dash board came out absolutely seamless and smooth. There is a bit of work top and bottom but nothing to fret over.
It's a bit of a pain sanding an inside curve like this and worse with a bottom getting in the way. This was just eliminated and the layup was easier and much stronger. Did get drips on arms and slithered away from some too. The roving makes this over kill though.

[Techno]

The panic paper is just that. I needed something to tack the lower outside curve in place and needed it fast. It worked. Don't know if it will come off but so what. Posterity. The white thing on the top is my cheat sheet for the fuse box/switch panel my brother made for me. This thing needs a sheet to show the wiring connections and the fuse locations. The vertical rectangle is for the switch panel. This is getting mounted on the back with some abalonie or some kind of guitar shell material I procured for this. The shell surrounds a bevel on the front around the switchs.
The lower dash was done previously by splitting the wooden dash off the glass dash. A new walnut dash was made from thin laminations glued up. Grain only runs horizontaly. Steering area got a build up from extra. Glass laminations put on and then bonded in place.

The hole that was filled ran from the very top to very bottom, Overlapping sections on the mat, so it's more than 1 layer really, used wholes on the glass, halves on the roving, halves on the last glass layer. Halves right and left.
This whole job came out better than I thought it would. The full sheets was a might as well try it first thing and worked.

The other funny hole will be covered up by the glove box door in my sig.
But it's raining again and can't continue with this pooh-ject.

[Techno]

Heres that nasty corner. The top non white area is the glass that was sanded free of gel and what the board butted against, so no gelcoat and a minor fix. The bottom needs a radius for looks so that gets done with a curved paddle. The entire patch needs no sanding and if done from the front would have been alot more work.

Forgot to post the picture so it ends up down here.

[Superdave]

Waxed paper works pretty good too, esp for the "panic" part. It usually just peels away.
Dave

[Techno]

When the wax paper isn't where it was. When plastic sheet liked to peel away on other jobs. When you see what looks like a waxy paper you grab it and run.
Panic paper. I would have used copy paper out of the priner if I had to. The glass wasn't staying stuck up on the bottom and the resin was getting close to kicking off. I had no time!!!
AAHHHHHhhhhh