More Plywood questions

[Alan Peck]

As a first time boat builder, I purchased fir marine plywood for the transom of my runabout. The transom is already installed on the frame. However, from reading this Forum, I have decided to purchase Okoume for the topsides, bottoma and deck.

My question is:

Should I fiberglass only the fir transom and not the rest of the boat? If I do only the transom, I assume I should wrap the cloth around the edges of the transom. If I do that will it be possible to fair junction of the fiberglassed and non-fiberglassed areas so it will look good?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[jeff pierce]

If your reason for glassing is only to prevent checking, then I don't see why you couldn't do only the transom.

You would probably want to wrap the edges, as you suggested, but I'm not saying its absolutely necessary. A good fairing compound and some careful sanding would allow you to blend the glassed area into the non-glassed. Once painted, you shouldn't see it.

Good luck

[Alan D. Hyde]

So, in the opinion of those who have tried it, will priming first with CPES and then painting with something like Kirby's prevent checking on the new, lower quality, fir marine plywood?

Alan