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Deck glass sanding question (Shearwater Sport)
Hi all -
I am building a Shearwater Sport Hybrid and have a question about the deck glass / sanding.
Per the instructions, I have glassed the deck with one layer of epoxy it did not have me fill the weave yet. Instead, I am now in the “finishing” part of the instructions, where it tells me to sand the whole boat down with 120 grit paper before rolling on additional thin coats of epoxy, sanding again, and then moving on to the varnishing
I’m worried about sanding the deck now, when it only has one layer of epoxy over the glass. I can feel and see the weave of the glass, so it seems like if I sand now I will be sanding straight into the glass. Is it right that I should sand at this stage, or should I fill the weave first? I’m a bit confused about the need for this intermiediate sanding between epoxy coats and I’m worried I will mess up the glass. Thanks for any advice!
I’m trying to get finished, as my workshop is my dining room!
Mark
3 replies:
RE: Deck glass sanding question (Shearwater Sport)
We're also working on a Shearwater Sport and have done one before. The instructions are correct as far as I can tell. Just do a really light sanding (after you do the cockpit coaming, bulkhead fillets, hatches, etc.) and you'll be fine.
RE: Deck glass sanding question (Shearwater Sport)
as mentioned above....definitely don't sand into the glass and at most, you are just skuffing up the surface to improve the bond between what you have there and the next fill coat.
fwiw....you will see many variations in techniques... all of which can get you a great result....so there is not just one way to skin a cat in kayak building.
in a variation of the techinque, fill coats are applied without sanding if they are occuring within ~ 24 hours of the previous coat and you are using non-blushing epoxy. that happens to be my preferred approach.
if you do sand a bit, as suggested, keep it light and after you do that, vacume or wipe the surface down with some denatured alcohol to avoid getting epoxy dust into the next coat which can create its own set of issues. also, i would say, if you are going to sand, do ensure you wait a bit to ensure that epoxy is hard/cured (can't make a dent with a fingernail push). sanding into uncured epoxy can make a mess of things pretty quick.
h
RE: Deck glass sanding question (Shearwater Sport)
» Submitted by 2xthejoy - Sun, 6/2/19 » 7:36 PM
Hi Mark,
I only have acouple of kayaks under my belt at this point, but something definitely sounds fishy if the instructions are telling you to sand prior to filling the weave. The only scenarrio I can think of is a light scuff sanding if you have little nibs sticking up. You just don'twant to compromise the integrity of the fiberglass.
BTW, my first kayak was a SWS S&G that I built three years ago. We've paddled many miles together, and I still love that boat.
Good luck with your build!
Dave