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Hello,
I am building a Shearwater 17 Hybrid and I am pretty close to finishing however I have hit sort of a bump. After glassing the top and then sanding it and everything, I flipped the boat over and uncovered a huge mess of drips that have dried. I tried to sand away the drips, and got rid of most of them in some places, however, because I had previously sanded the bottom smooth, as according to the instructions, the glass and epoxy surrounding the drips was already very thin and is becoming even more thin when I sand away the drips. I even reached bare wood in one spot. I'm unsure of what to do. Do I put another layer of epoxy all around the bottom and then sand? I am just worried that I already removed a lot of the glass on the bottom and that it will affect the boats structure. I do not really want to re-glass the bottom, but I am going to put some epoxy on it. Please help me. I am thoroughly unsure of what to do.
6 replies:
RE: Shearwater 17 Hybrid Help
Kathy's advice is excellent. I've also had good luck using a sharp wood chisel to remove drips, carefully pushing it by hand, not hammer. -Wes
RE: Shearwater 17 Hybrid Help
Thank you so much. I only got through to wood in about a 4 inch by half an inch area. About the size of a sharpie marker. Do you think that I need to reglass that area? or can I just put epoxy over that area. Also, I am seeing the fiberglass pattern in a lot of areaas that I have sanded, can I just put another coat of epoxy and then sand that? Will that eliminate the fiberglass pattern? Thank you
RE: Shearwater 17 Hybrid Help
On my first build, I left too much epoxy on the glass, causing ripples. I sanded them level, including a couple of spots where I had to go right through the glass. I simply gave it another coat of exoxy, and it came out fine. Every last square centimeter doesn't have to glassed.
As far as the areas where you can see the weave, try removing the sanding dust with a rag wet with denatured alcohol. If the weave disappears when wet, it will disappear under another coat of epoxy.
RE: Shearwater 17 Hybrid Help
Here is a good idea..always mask off the sides (tape & paper or plastic sheet) if you are glassing or coating the deck & v.v. on the bottom. When glassing a deck you can tape the side about 1" below the sheer, then cut off the excess glass just above the tape...carefully before the epoxy get hard. Re-tape to add several coats to the deck..saves a lot of extra sanding drips. Ditto on the scraper..do so before the epoxy drips are fully cured. You can do this to the edge of the glass when almost hard, as this will taper the glass edge with much less sanding to blend it in. Add your fill coats & then sand away.
RE: Shearwater 17 Hybrid Help
» Submitted by KathyD - Thu, 8/9/12 » 4:16 PM
If you have more drips/runs to get rid of, my favorite tool is a carbide-tipped cabinet scraper. It will take off the high points without going through the epoxy/glass on the low points on flat surfaces (not good on edges of course, always need to be careful on those). Search on this forum to see links to different options if you want to get one.
If you can see bare wood, you've sanded through the glass. If you don't see bare wood but see the glass pattern you may have sanded into the glass but not through it (wet with a little water to reveal this if you've sanded enough to get the surface resin hazy, but try not to get bare wood wet). The best fix to maintain structural integrity would be to re-glass the portions that have been sanded through if they are big or in critical areas. But, if it's just a few small spots you should be OK with just adding a few coats of epoxy resin. The goal is to end up with a smooth surface with all wood completely encased in resin. Can you post photos or a link to photos?