I have a new dimension tower going on my sport nautique but have a little issue. Is there a good way to work with that kitty hair resin they give you. It doesnt seem to stick very well and wants to drip down a lot. I remember someone saying they didnt even use the stuff, but I figured they gave it to me for a reason. So far all I have done is make a mess with this stuff with very little getting on the area I need it on. Besides being awkward and a PITA, what did you do to lay the stuff down, or did you not and do you have any problems with it?

I've installed a couple of towers but never did any glass work on any of them. I assume the resin is used to bond the backing plates into place or possibly build up the glass where your tower feet will be mounted. Typically you would paint or spread the resin on your backing plates or a piece of fiberglass cloth, then put the plate/cloth in place (under the gunnels or bow). <BR> <BR>The bonding of backing plates to the glass increases the strength of the area like 10 fold.

The stuff I got is a resin with a mix or glass hair already in it, it is a real pain in the a$$ to work with because it doesnt want to bond and is just making a mess. I wish I had resin and glass sheets <IMG SRC="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/sad.gif" ALT=":-(" BORDER=0> I want to build up the area but the stuff just keeps dripping off and I am not even puting a layer a 1/8" thick on it.

What about cutting pieces of wood for backing plates, then use the resin to bond them in place? Or go pick up some fabric to use with it? It would definitely be easier to work with.

I installed a new dimension tower on my nautique... I didn't use the resin. Installed it two years ago and it is still as solid as the day I installed it. I did scrape all the foam away so that the backing plates were as flush with the hull as possible.

I just tried something that worked pretty well for now that is. I just used a nitrile glove to spread it with my hands. The main problem is that the stuff is so stringy. It is really a pain to work with. That was the best thing so far but I might do a piece of wood in there. Not a bad idea. Getting a thin piece and cutting it to lay out a wider area than the plate would be ideal, I dont think I have too much area unde the bow to work with it. Maybe another inch bigger area than the plates would cover. Good thing is that Nautiques top decking is pretty decent in thickness so I am probably going to be fine. I am still open to more ideas but spreading it seems to me best done with my hands. <BR> <BR>Bill, where can I get som glass matting and resin?

I installed a FCT on my SS, probably a pretty similar install. I only used the backing plates and haven't had any problems(knock on wood). Four years still going strong...

I installed my own tower but it didn't come with any sort of resin or "kitty hair." According to the specs on my tower, I need at least 3/8" thick fiberglass at the mounting points and I have that. If you're talking about using this stuff on the underside of the boat, I'd suggest an alternate backing. If it's going on that poorly, there's no way you'll get a flat surface to mate to. That's far more important that adding a small amount of thickness to the glass. Since it's already on, you may want to sand it down a touch if it's really stringy. <BR> <BR>West Marine will have enough matting and resin to do what you need to here. Or you could just rip some pressure treated plywood to size. Or both.

You should be able to find a "fiberglass" section in the yellow pages. Or "fiberglass repair". Or call you Nautique dealer for a recommendation. <BR> <BR>I think I'd stick with some big (as possible) backing plates. I used a soft pine so when I torqued things down, it molded to the glass surface. Then an aluminum plate behind that, followed by washers &amp; nylock nuts.

I put an FCT on my nautique. This is a really simple way to do it that i learned from a guy who mounted towers for CC for years. I cleared the foam and cut some 1/2 plywood larger than the backing plates. Mixed up some bondo and spread it on the plywood generously. Press the bondo-ed plywood to your hull, itll stick pretty quick. This will take out all the gaps and give you a flat solid surface to sandwich the tower feet and backing plates. Drill (drill in reverse first and champher the hole larger than your bolts)with the tower in place, and bolt it down. I also used large ss fender washers over the alum backing plates. Its been solid since day one.

Darrel, That is a good idea. I think I will see if I can get some plywood tomorrow and cut it up. I will need to get some longer screws for the fronts but in the end it will be worth it. I was planning on getting a plastic bonder epoxy and puting that on the plate but i would like to put more of a backer on it. It came with a 5x5 plate but I had to cut 30% off to make it physically fit with the holes that were in the plate. I like the bondo idea though, it would be a lot cheaper too and plenty storng too I think.

Better than bondo(bondo has no structural qualitys)would be a product called dynaglass,its a bondo like product with chopped fiberglass in it,has some structural rigidity ,and is water proof.I drilled some holes in my backer plates and counter sunk the holes on the outside so some of the dynaglass squeezed out the holes, I smoothed of the surface so the counter sunk holes were full,then drilled, after dry, tower mounting holes.

I may go the epoxy route. I laid a decent amount of the resin stuff to build it up but I just need something to fill the gaps when I mate the wood to the deck. Epoxy is water proof and I have used it to fill a little on an old hull and it worked for 5 years. I think structurally it is fine now, but just want to mate it flat just so there isnt any pressure points from underneath.