   
Joe Chisolm
New member Username: Jchisolm
Post Number: 12 Registered: 11-2001
| Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 10:29 pm: | |
David, I built my own without much trouble. Basically I did: 1) Used a piece of 3/4 in plywood and some foam to make a male plug of the panel. 2) I did a thin layer of resin over the entire plug and covered with peel ply. After cure I sanded smooth and put on a lot of regual car wax. 3) Used various pieces of fiber glass, odd shapes left over and some loose weave (deck cloth I think it was) to cover the male plug and make a female mold. I bonded in some 2x2 pieces to act as supports for the next step. 4) Pop the plug out of the new mold. A rubber mallet helps. Clean up the mold, fix any pin holes, etc with bondo. Sand smooth and wax and wax some more. 5) Make your new panel using the mold. I did 2 large layers then smaller layers for added strength in various areas. I also did some foam stiffners on the back. I made the mold so I could form a 2in wide flange around the entire panel. The entire process took me one weekend. It was not that hard to do and now I have a mold I can use over again if I ever want to re-do the panel, plus it's custom to the way I want the layout. Also instead of using very expenseive vinylester, I went to the local supplier and got some general purpose polyester resin. |