Fiberglass/Boatbuilding Book?

[Captn C]

I went by Barnes & Noble (book store) yesterday to see what they had....they, of course didn't have anything!

Here is a few that they could order;

The Fiberglass Boat Repair Manual
by-Vaitses

Building a Fiberglass Boat
by-O'Connor

Boatbuilding with Baltak DuraKore
by-Brown

Heart of Glass: Fiberglass Boats and The Men Who Build Them
by-Surr

Fiberglass Boats
by-Plessis

Fiberglass Boat Design and Construction
by-Scott

I thought I had decent knowledge of fiberglass work until I seen what you guys and the guys on the Classic Mako site have been doing. I have rebuilt fiberglass school bus hoods and as long as it doest crack you're good to go.

If I had built a boat like I had planned it would have surely shattered like it was made out of window glass! I tend to over engineer most projects I do....so it would have been natural for me to that with a boat. I have done some simple boat repairs, but none where structural repairs.

Any way which of the above books would you guys suggest? Or one I didn't list?

[pogden]

I go to this site occasionally, it's pretty good. This thread is a similar question.

http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4616

[strick]

Fiberglass boat building for amatures By Ken Hankinson and Fiberglass Repair manual By jack Wiley. I also have the first one you listed. Talking with everyone you can in the boat of fiberglass materials industry is a big help.

Strick

[Reel Smoker]

Anyone that has read any of these books, is there any info on foam transoms? What is your opinion of foam transoms? Bracket with twin installation? weight? Thanks RS

[FELLOW-SHIP]

Ha ReelSmoker
I looked into that stuff before I did my transom I even visited their booth at a boat show. Bottom line is, I didn’t want to be the Bata testing platform for their “NEW” mouse trap. Although their pitch is pretty impressive no one I know thought it was a good idea. One thing I never asked them but was always thinking about is that on the SeaCrafts the thickness of the glass on the inner wall of the transom is not very thick so if you uses their stuff and then tried to bolt on your engines would the washers dig into the foam and cause a concaving of the transom due to the weight. Another reason is that most everyone that does their transoms from the inside also builds up the supports around the transom to the hull with extra layers of fiberglass and either stringer to transom or knee to transom devices to add additional support. All that will not happen with foam filled method another real concern is you need to get all the rotten wood out of the transom and clean it up BEFORE you start building in back. That is not going to happen with just 2” of space from the top of the transom to work with.
Ha by the way when is the best time of the year to catch muttons down there in Key West??
FellowShip [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]