Fiber glassing the joints on the bottom of a boat helps seal the joints to prevent leaking and helps protect the edges of the bottom from wear and bumps. Many builders fiberglass the entire bottom of the boat although others say this just makes a bowl out of a wooden boat that captures moisture and causes rot. I’ll be fiber glassing the joints only for now!

Below shows preparations being made to install 4″ wide fiberglass tape along the starboard chine. The transom / bottom joint, pictured at the lower left, has already been fiber glassed:

The is a close up of fiberglass tape that has been installed and cured on the port side chine at the bottom joint (it needs to be sanded down at the edges):

The bottom now has one layer of fiberglass tape all the way around and across the separate planks of plywood on the bottom. Next, these layers will be sanded down and one more layer will be installed along the chines and across the transom to provide an extra layer of protection:

First layer of fiberglass sanded and ready for the second layer:

View from the stern:

2nd layer of fiberglass boat tape ready for epoxy:

2nd layer of fiberglass boat tape epoxied and curing:

The 2nd layer of fiberglass has been sanded and green copper based wood preservative applied to the bottom of the boat:

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