Hi Rob,

That is an unvarnished boat in that picture. If you look closely you'll notice a  bit of orange peel texture in the finish, caused by the unsanded epoxy.

Splooge can be easily removed with a popsicle stick, so go buy a box of popsicles and eat a few before you glue the coaming down.

Have fun,

Laszlo

Thanks very much, I greatly apprecate the rapid response! Your kayak sure looked fine in that shot and now that you mention it I do see the orange peel a little. Thanks, I'm going to attach mine next then. 

Did you feel it necessary at all to drill a few small holes in the underside of the coaming, and in the deck where it fastens, to help add strength to the bond or is just splooging on resin and clamping during the cure enough. I'm guessing that it might be but I'm just wondering if a little extra grip would be worth doing -overkill? 

Thanks again!

Rob

on the hunt for popsicles...

Yeah, a careful epoxy job can look pretty good. It also cuts down the amount of sanding that you need to do.

There's plenty of bonding area as is and the holes would just break the wood fibers and make stress concentrators, so don't bother.

Laszlo

Nice rear hatch Lazlo. LOL at all the sanding discs on the ground. My Shearwater Hybrid Sport deck is just about assembled so I am going to be going through a bunch of those. So far I have used only hand tools but I think sanding the deck may be a bit much by hand.

Just my two cents:

Hand sanding doesn't take much longer than with the orbital, believe it or not. And when your mind wonders, which it will, while using 80grit paper the damage will be minimal. If I spent the time creating a work of art from tooth picks I would hand sand. There is plenty of hull for the orbital.

For the Peeler I might use an edge grinder. (Just kidding). Good luck. Send pictures.

Self correction. The mind may wonder as it should, but I meant to say wander. Lesdyxia is a pain.

Join DAM (Mothers against Dyslexia)

Seriously, though, I don't use #80. With lots of thin coats there's no need. There's no big drips, just orange peel. #220, or maybe #120, is plenty to knock that down.

Laszlo