Fairing puzzle joints

SouthhwesI’ve glued my puzzle joints and discover the were not totally flat. There are high spots where I’ve sanded to wood and low spots with shiny epoxy. Most of the fingerjoints are concealed by the by the SWD side benches and I’m not concerned by their appearance. I’m painting the hull exterior. The outside of the panels have imperfectly sanded joints with low spots. Is it easer to fair with micro-balloons while the panels are flat on the bench or should I wait till the hull is built and ready for epoxy saturation. Thanks for the advise!

Rick

Southwester Dory

 

 


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RE: Fairing puzzle joints

i found that when clamping them to a boad (scewing another board down) i added a 5-gal bucket full of water as weight and got very close to flush joints.

The outer portions of the puzzle were occasionally high/low with some epoxy pooling in the valleys; but found that if i used a hand block-plane, i was able to get the irregularities mostly knocked down quickly and with minimal material removal.

Afterwards, i used the shallow-curve of one of the cabinet scrapers to catch anything that threw light or revealed bumps.

Hit it with 120 grit (spray-glued) on a soft spongy pad, and got a suprisingly flush and very smooth joint.  May need some fill/leveling if painting the exterior, but it worked very nicely for the interior of my NE-Dory, which will be seen under varnish.

Since you're SWD, and painting, sounds like you've got it where you need it.

 

--Nate

RE: Fairing puzzle joints

Rick,

I'd fair after the hull is built, especially with microballoons. I'd be concerned about cracks openng up when bending the panels if I faired beforehand.

Laszlo

RE: Fairing puzzle joints

   I faired my puzzle joints on my skerry while still flat.  I was painting, so I used a cellofil mix on mine.  Squeegeed it in after sanding the edges then resanded and moved on.  Seems to have worked well.  If you are finishing bright, might have to do something else.

RE: Fairing puzzle joints

Thanks for the input everyone. I’ll fair the planks after building the hull.  As an upside to this problem, research on the forum led me to the technique of filling weave with micro balloons. Given the SWD has side bunks and that I’m using non-skid I think I’ll use micro balloons to fill the weave on the inside as well. Painting the hull floor will save time and allow me to finish some of the interior bright.

Rick

 

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