Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Don---Thanks for the post about "cleco" fasteners. I never really understood how they worked either.---Brian

Thanks Ken: You are right, seeing my Sons is the highlight of my week. I really enjoy it when we get together. Should be able to see my other Son Don more now, he has taken a job only about 20 minutes from the shop, so he will be starting on his projects as soon as things settle down for him a little.

Brian: Thanks, and I'm glad you got some info out of the cleco post. I really never worked with them either until I saw Dan using them on his rod, but I've seen them in magazine articles for years now.

Yellowtudor: I'm using polyester. If money were no object, what I would really use would be West System Epoxy, because it truly is a superior product, and it also comes in those neat cans with pumps on top for clean, accurate dispensing, However, it would drive up the build cost significantly, and with the amount of resin I have been using (I'm on my 4th gallon) I just couldn't justify putting that kind of money into the project. Plus, polyester is really fine for this type of work. Even the repairs we had done at the marina where I worked by fiberglass subcontractors was always done in polyester and mat. When I would ask them about using exotic products, they would laugh and say it really wasn't needed for what they were doing.

Way back when I started doing my '27, I went out and bought yards and yards of biaxial cloth and all these super hitech materials to use. But all the fiberglass guys I knew talked me out of using them, because the average person has better success using simple polyester resin, and mat. It is more user friendly, and mat tends to conform better to irregular shapes, like you encounter on a hot rod body.

Now, if I were building a high performance offshore racing boat, that would be a different matter, and as you said, water absorbsion should not be a problem, as it would on a boat. But even at that, most boats are built with polyester, and many of them stay in the water 24-7. My '27 was built with this same system over 17 years ago, and the plywood floor is as solid today as when new. I think the way I totally encapsulate the wood with resin and glass sealing it from the elements (maybe they should have sealed the '57 in Tulsa in fiberglass )

I've never heard of the sawdust method you are mentioning, but I know West System has some thickening powders for the same purposes. Like everything else, there are tons of different ways to do these things, I just kind of stick with what has worked so well for me in the past. But your info and input is really appreciated and I may have to give that a try sometime in the future.


Going to head over to the shop now and try to finish up the bottom so I can flip the body and do the interior some more.

Don