Sanding Glass

[Ben M]

Glass is on, epoxy has cured over our Xmas trip. Sanding has begun. Woohoo. So much work to get to this point and dang. That's alotta sanding! Hahaha...

Biggest question I have is how do you know when to stop without cutting into the cloth?

Two layers of 6oz cloth, followed by 3 coats of rolled-on epoxy to fill the weave.

I can still see a weave pattern in some areas, and I've read that you can still cut into this pattern without getting into the cloth because of the way the coats of epoxy build up, or something like that.

I can be patient and slog out some sanding to get things smooth. It's work. It's ok. But I don't want to cut into my cloth and weaken the hull.

Here's another question: it seems like there are maybe some little divots that might not sand out. (Hey, it's my first build. Next time will probably be smoother from the start. Haha...) Can I use a little fairing compound to fill in a low spot after the major sanding? Is this a bad idea?

 

[Cody Williams]

You will know when you hit cloth-it's hard to miss! I'm not sure why but the cloth pattern will print through several layers of epoxy and glass, sometimes even through paint also. It's no problem to fair out small divots and flaws-I like to use epoxy thickened with microballoons, it makes a good, lightweight and sandable filler. Often, if I'm going for a really good finsh, I will sand, fill obvious spots, sand them again, and then do 1 coat of primer-the primer will really show where you have flaws. Then fill, sand, and use a second primer coat and you should be good to go. If you're really anal about your finish, and you have access to the right equipment, you can shoot on a coat of high-building automotive primer-it will fill any small pinholes and divots and give you a really good base under your paint.

 

[Tom Ayers]

I would lightly sand the epoxy and then roll on several coats of Interlux 2000/ 2001 two part moisture barrier. This product is designed to prevent moisture from migrating into the substrate. It also provides an excellent base for the final finish. It doesn't sand real easy but better to sand this then the base epoxy. Besides you don't really want a super smooth finish.

Tom