Panels fiberglass ready?

Posted by Michelle Moran on Sep 19, 2004

I have several questions re: getting the Sassafras panels ready for finishing. Except for panel number 1 (on the bottom), the panels of this boat are really skinny. My ROS won't fit. Is there an option other than sanding by hand, which I estimate should take no longer than 7.9 months given the number of drips, etc. I have?

The topic of drips brings me to Question Number 2: I was using a dremel tool to grind away the multiple drips that formed by the wire holes on the inside of the boat. I tried the carbide scraper, but it tended to gouge the wood, while I had better control with the dremel tool. I noticed that as the expoxy in the drip was heated by the grinding of the dremel bit, the remainder of the drip became soft enough that I could scrape it away with my fingernail. (This epoxy has been cured in 80 degrees for over a week.) Does heat degrade epoxy?

Question Number 3: Do the plywood edges of each "plank" need any special treatment, i.e. do they need to be sanded completely smooth or faired into the next plan in some way? I took a few pictures to see if they looked OK.

Question Number 4: Should I sand and clean up everything I've done prior to fiberglassing, or go ahead and fiberglass, then finish everything up at once. (On this boat, you only fiberglass the bottom plank (plank 1) on the outside and planks 1 and 2 in the bottome inside of the canoe, as well as the stems.

Thanks as always for any input.

Michelle

Replies:

• Re: Panels fiberglass rea by Laszlo on Sep 19, 2004
• Re: Panels fiberglass rea by John DeLaurier on Sep 19, 2004
• Re: Panels fiberglass rea by Steve Miller on Sep 19, 2004
  • Re: Panels fiberglass rea by RogerJ on Sep 20, 2004