Putting A Floor In A Fiberglass Body

The supporting framing and floor can add stiffness and support to a hull.

Putting a floor in a fiberglass body. But do it the wrong way and you ll end up with a misaligned body. Although bodywork can seem complex and intimidating it s actually quite easy. In this post we ll give you the highlights on how bob hamilton does it. It has several advantages over cloth.

You can insulate between the floor joists using faced or unfaced fiberglass. To paint fiberglass you ll need to buff it with sandpaper apply a primer then paint it. Most floors are framed with 2 by 10s and require r 38 insulation. This was done prior to setting the body on the floor.

Once the resin impregnated fiberglass mat has cured usually within a few hours the deck surface is virtually watertight think of the hull of a fiberglass boat. I stared off by considering the things i would need to get to like the master cylinders and the battery. You can buy kits from home centers department stores or auto parts stores in various sizes depending on your project. Mat in three or four places on each side to set the floor.

The floor provides support to additional deck equipment such and winches consoles and. I glassed the floor with two layers of the 1 oz. Start by buffing away the shine using 150 400 grit sandpaper since paint won t stick to a glossy surface. You ll want to use regular spray paint or a latex acrylic paint for a decorative piece or a door but for surfaces that will see a lot of heavy.

I considered the well know wooden floor but decided that i would rather like the underneath to be as good as the body. Installation of the floor gives the flimsy fiberglass body its required strength and rigidity. It wets out better so it sticks together better and it sticks to other things like the wood you will be putting in your body for strength. Finally he poured resin over the main surface of the floor and pushed it around with a paint roller until the entire mat was saturated and transparent.

Purchase a fiberglass kit a kit should contain the poly polyester resin hardener catalyst and cloth for structural strength. Fiberglass cloth properly applied and hardened will leave the body ready to paint so it looks as good as new. It takes a little patience and it can be slightly messy but you ll find you can easily make a repair to your car body using fiberglass cloth. As i have only 2 pedals and no floor shifter in a tight 15 body i wanted as much room as i could get for my feet.

Now that the body was set and the 1 x 2 s were in place i set the cutout t bucket floor inside the body and centered the floor to where the gaps were about equal all around. The flooring creates a dead air space just above the hull s bottom that can add bouyancy to a boat made from materials with no inherent bouyancy such as fiberglass steel or aluminum.