Fixing the glassing operation. More lessons learned.

This morning I cut off most of the excess fiberglass cloth. Then upon examining yesterday's work, I noticed several issues.

First where the 2 pieces of cloth overlapped there were very noticeable bumps. Also I think I used way to much epoxy. In some areas you can see pooled epoxy bumps(like drips). In 2 small areas the tape came away from the wood (like an air bubble under the glass).

So I figured I better fix these issues now instead of putting a second coat on. I decided to sand all the bumps down with an orbital sander. This took a long time. Epoxy, it turns out, is difficult to sand. I then cut out 2 small pieces of cloth and patched where the air bubbles were.

After all was smoothed again I added the second layer of epoxy. Much thinner this time. For this layer I was suppose to use a foam roller. Between the roller and mixing larger pots of epoxy, things went much faster and smoother this time.

Lessons learned:

• Less epoxy to wet the cloth.
• Trim up cloth neatly before using epoxy.
• Take your time and get out any bubbles or ripples in cloth.

Overall I don't believe these are structural issues. I'm also hoping that more sanding and more thin layers of epoxy will cure all this. I will see. Maybe I should read a book on this.


One Day later...

Well the epoxy fixes seam to be a success. Hull is looking much smoother. So I sanded everything down again and rolled the third and final layer epoxy onto the wood. Hull is looking good.

Next mission is lumber. For the last few weeks I've been looking for the correct wood for the internal elements of the boat. This is not so easy to find. Home Depot and Lowes does not have what I need. Time is getting critical. I only have a few steps left to do before I need this lumber. Frustrating.