Aft Bulkhead

Finally I have made a start on the glass. I used a wire brush on my drill and went over the rear bulkhead and adjoining areas both fore and aft. Then I went over the area with a palm sander with 40 grit sandpaper to leave a rough surface for the resin to stick to. Then, because I had removed the lower portion of plywood on the aft side due to rot with a wood chisel, I had punctured some holes in the firberglass on the fore side. Before I rebuild the "core" of the bulkhead, I needed to place a new skin on the fore side. So I cut out a piece of 1.5 oz Matt to fit and, with some 105 West Marine System resin (205 hardner), I wetted the Matt in place. First time for me using West System. It worked perfectly. So, now that I have the front layer of glass in place and cured, I am about to use fiberglass pipe wrap insulation wetted down with West System to fill in the missing plywood on the aft side. To do this I have made a cardboard template covered with packing tape to press over the wetted insulation to keep it in place (on the verticle) while it cures. I will then remove the cardboard template and run a final layer of Matt over the entire back side of the bulkhead covering the upper portion of plywood and the lower section of resined insulation. Eventually this will all be painted.