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Epoxy: A few questions on filling/sanding
By:David Blodgett
Date: 11/18/2002, 11:12 pm

So after a few mishaps and experiments, I have 3.25 ounce satin glass on my hull. Unfortunately it's not perfect. It's all well wet out. But it's a little too wet in some places and there are a few pin head bubbles on the surface here and there. A few lose strands of glass that I missed while glassing hardened on. So it's not perfect. I guess that just means more sanding. So that's the situation.

I am now ready to put on a few fill coats, but I don't know whether I should be filling then sanding or sanding first to take down the worst raised sections then filling. The glass is perfectly wetted on about 95% of the boat. But there are raised spots dotted all over. I guess my question is really whether or not the rasied sections will interfere with epoxy coating.

Before I decided to glass the hull, I was trying to save weight and not use any glass. While putting those coats on I expierienced what I call alegatoring. The epoxy would group together with surface tension rather then uniformly coating the boat. When I added more it would drip, and I couldn't get a smooth coat. It was really frustrating as I had to sand ALL the epoxy off almost down to bear wood. I was in tough shape after the 10th sheet of ROS paper and the hours sanding off my hours of work. I still don't know what I did wrong, and I really don't want it to happen again!

Any recomendations for where I should go with this? The looks of the hull arent THAT important to me so I guess sanding into the Glass isn't a real big deal is it? I just need it smooth.

Anyone have expierince with graphite filler? Will it help fill the cloth quicker. I'm not completely against having a black hull. and it would work well as a hard smooth coating on my race boat. I feel like a really bad boat builder as this is my third boat I did a better job when I was 16. Never used west system epoxy though, I guess that might be the problem I though it was the best though.
Thanks for any advice you might have!
Dave

Messages In This Thread

Epoxy: A few questions on filling/sanding
David Blodgett -- 11/18/2002, 11:12 pm
Re: Epoxy: A few questions on filling/sanding
Jay Babina -- 11/19/2002, 10:09 am
Re: Epoxy: West 206/207 blush?
David Blodgett -- 11/19/2002, 11:17 am