This evening I had my first experience of laying up a GRP hull on a plug. Normally, my hulls are a composite of balsa and GRP. I used to use 3m spray mount to hold the woven 200g/m2 fibre glass in place which has been very successful but this was not option during this GRP only build.
The plug had receievd two layers of releasing wax so fingers crossed I shouldn't have any problems striking the hull off the plug. I'm anticipating using two layers of 200g/m2 for the majority of the hull with an additional layer of 80g/m2 in the middle of the hull from the main sheet post to just in front of the mast post incorporating the full beam circumference.
All waxed and ready
Initially I mixed 36ml of West System resin which managed to cover two thirds of the wetting out so another 15ml was mixed but only about 8ml was used so it took approx 44ml in total which feels about right. I also tried for the first time to use a jenny or jen brush (A stick with a piece of brush shaped foam attached) to wet out the FG but after a while I went back to my trustee cheap kids paint brush bought from my local newsagent for 60p and used numerous times. The jenny brush is used once and thrown away. I found the thick paint brush stippled the resin into the FG a lot quicker and more thoroughly. It took a little time and patience but overall I'm very happy with the results. In one or two small areas the FG started to lift but a light rub over with some kitchen towel managed to absorb any excess resin which helped the FG back into place. I also needed to cut a small dart in the FG at the midships to release a big crease on each side but that's a relatively small price to pay to keep the FG and my sanity intact.
First layer and looking good