Hello from San Antonio Texas

First Stop Introductions
#1

Hello everyone,

Gino is the name, from San Antonio, Texas. New to composites and hoping to learn as much as possible from ya’ll. coming in from a welding background trying to learn and take up a new hobby.

I allready have a project in mind, I recently got a hold of some buiding foam pieces 2 inch thick and thinking of building a nice fiberglass cooler that I can mount on the back of my truck. However. I am unsure of how to go through the process which i will list below to see if You guys can correct me or fill me in with anything that I might have overlooked.

So starting with the squre foam i intend to glue it up and shape it up as the cooler, then I intend to to slap on some fiberglass chop strand with polyester resin using a total of 2 to 3 layers of fiberglass.

Gel coat is where I get confused, since all the videos on you tube base the gel coat out of female molds they apply it first hand.
How do you apply it as the final layer is there a different process? Mkep with the gel coat? Any info would be much obliged.

The reason I was interested in composites is that I intend to make a motorcycle trailer I have allready laid it out on sketch up however got me head scratching thinking of how im to tackle suck project.

Anywho, Thank you all in advance for being open to share your thoughts and expiriences.

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#2

Welcome to the forums!

Where you put the gelcoat depends on whether you’re using a male or female mold. If it’s a female mold you’ll put it in first. If it’s a male mold you’ll put it on last.

#3

I’m new to this myself but I believe you can add a liquid wax to the gel coat to make it cure better. Apparently it doesn’t cure well in open air.
Are you planning to make a mould or just make the basic shape in foam and cover it in fibre glass and finish with gel coat?

#4

I plan to cover the foam in fiberglass then add the gel coat. So wax? Can it be brush applied and still achieve a smooth finish? Could you sand and buff the gel coat.?

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