Refer glassing! - 2011

 We worked on the refer glassing last night and have come close to finishing it. We learned a trick for doing the top underside. I must say it is about time after all the grief we have had doing this underside. One part of it is the difficulty in seeing what we are doing. Working with a mirror is not pleasant. September 2011 - Chip & Debbie 💑 Currently in Marina Cortez ⛵ in San Diego, SoCal

The temperature was in the low seventies. The fiberglass was pre-cut and was ready to go. We painted the underside surface with epoxy using a 2” brush. We then put the two-inch strip of glass tape into the bucket with the epoxy and saturated it. Before we would put it up and then brush it on adding epoxy, this would sometimes shred the glass and drip and droll epoxy all over and move the glass around. Not fun. So, soaking the glass in the bucket is the trick! Then we brushed off the excess epoxy lightly. Now (with rubber gloves on of course) we placed the strip of say 14” long glass tape up under the refer inside top. Slowly and gently we massaged the tape to even out the epoxy and get rid of any bubbles. After checking the work with a mirror, it was done. Then we moved to the next piece and so on. The fast-drying hardener was, it seems at a good temperature as it was easy to work with. At higher temperatures it got real sticky to quick. Then you would be pulling the glass off with sticky hands of brush. We like the fast-draying hardener as the fiberglass does not droop because it starts setting up well, fast. After it is glassed, we put a space heater into the refer to help the epoxy cure.
 Tonight (9-23-11) we will glass a couple more spots and also finish off around the tops where the lids go so the seal for the lids will sit even. There are a few low spots in those areas now. We will re-add the second bottom matting glass and possibly give the sides a coat of just epoxy to smooth them out.
 Tuesday we are taking off work in the hopes of painting the refer.
Then we move on to the freezer. This should go a lot quicker as we now have some good experience and there is not a underside top to glass. It is also a smaller area.