Deck Blemish Question

I took my Chesapeake 17 out for "sea trials" this weekend prior to painting and varnishing it.  When I had it out in the bright sun light I noticed a small area of the deck that seems to have a grid like pattern of tiny white "highlights" to it.  I assume this must be air trapped in the epoxy from when I applied the fiberglass.  In the workshop it looked like the fabric was completely wetted but appearently it was not?  I am not sure that anyone but me will notice this but I am wondering how can I fix this?  Do I have to sand through the fabric and re-epoxy the bare wood?  Thanks.

Scott


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RE: Deck Blemish Question

Scott--live with it!!

Happened to me on one of my clc's. My problem was that when I was building this spring after I let the boat kick in the shop for a few hours after putting on the deck. I rolled it out into the sunshine. I do not have hatches and the air-bleed hole I drilled in the aft bulkhead got plugged with epoxy while I was installing the deck.

After about ten minutes in the sun the aft deck was balooning up- YIKES- I knew immediately what was going on- grabbed the cordless with a #11 bit and drilled thru the bulkhead to release the built up pressure.

Yup you can see the weave pattern, so it goes. I paddle my boat it's not a coffee table. The bottom looks worse than the top now since I've been using it all summer.

RE: Deck Blemish Question

These blemishes ended up bothering me enough to try to fix them.  I sanded down till the weave in the 'glass showed and the highlights dissapeared.  After a coat of epoxy, they are no longer visible even though I did not sand down to bare wood.  Go figure?

Scott

RE: Deck Blemish Question

That is good to know Scott.  The same thing happened to me.  However, the phenomenon did'nt manifest itself until the boat was out in the sun for a while.  In addition, my boat was completely vanished already.  I am absolutely certain the glass was wet out, however, it appears there is a tiny fraction of uncertainty in fiberglassing.  No matter how well you think you did, you just can't be 100% certain this anomaly will not occur.  Mine, like yours, appears to be trapped air in the wood trying to escape, as I can feel the bubbles trying to push through the epoxt, glass, and varnish.  It does bother me, but it is only in a few spots, and no one notices it but me.  Having said that though, sooner or later I will fix it, but it may be a while.   Right now it's time to put some scratches on the bottom :)

 

 

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