Hi I need to reinforce the base of the mast tube on my Starkers 3 where it joins the hull to stop it moving/leaking but can't decide how to lay the fibre to get it round the tube and flared out onto the hull into a sort of top hat shape without it falling apart! Any ideas? Cheers, Trevor

Hi Trevor,

Key is to have the weave of the cloth on a bias (45 degrees) arond the join area, not at 90degrees where it wont get down into the join.

Scuff the area to be joined with 180-220 grit paper to roughen up and remove any gloss of the resin. Wipe down with acetone, alcahol or even meths with paper towel to thoroughly clean.

Mix and fillet a small bead of good quality epoxy glue around the area to be joined. Use a Ice cream stick or similar for radius in join.

Cut small strips or squares around 30-40mm wide at 45 degrees the weave of cloth to be used. Better to use a couple of layers of lighter cloth than one heavy one as will lay in easier.

Wet the cloth out on some platic sheet and also carefully paint resin over join and area of patching.

Now carefully apply the patches around the faces of the joined area one at a time using a small craft brush wetting through but notdisturbing the glue beneath. The cloth will just bend around and lay neatly without any air bubbles. A couple of layers of 90-120g carbon or 160 twill glass should make it bulletproof. 

Cover the wet resin area with light peel ply (or thin dress lining polyester) cut on the same bias that will be removed once the resin is cured, to smooth the final finish and remove excess resin.

Cheers

Brad

Edited December 24, 20241 yr by Brad Gibson

Excellent! Thanks Brad. I’ll get started as soon as Xmas is done.