Fiberglassing the Bottom Trailing Edge of a Power Boat

Fiberglassing the Bottom Trailing Edge of a Power Boat

Posted by Glen Witt on Jan 17th 2013

The well radiused corner required for proper application of fiberglass cloth is not desirable on some areas. For example, the bottom edge along the transom of high performance boats or along the inside edge along sponsons of hydroplanes should have a crisp corner for ultimate speed and performance. This illustration shows a good method for "re-crisping" the edge:

The edge is built up with pieces of scrap cloth to provide sufficient bulk of fiberglass material and resin to be ground down to form a crisp edge. The built up area should be faired so as to not form an abrupt "hump" at the edge, which could detract from the performance of the boat.

Learn more about the proper fiberglassing of all types of boats in our book How To Fiberglass Boats