How to minimize epoxy on hull while glassing deck?

Hi - 

About to do the glass on the deck of my hybrid kayak and realize that doing so is likely to make a gawd-awful mess of the already glassed & smoothed hull.  Any tips on how best to minimize the mess?  Or do I just smooth it down now and re-sand it all out later?

Thanks!

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 


2 replies:

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RE: How to minimize epoxy on hull while glassing deck?

Hi Jim, 

the picture below shows the technique on how to approach this and minimize the mess.

i use blue painters tape to clearly mark on the hull where i want the deck glass to go ...for me its typically an inch down onto the hull.   i am pretty neat and the tape itself is what i use to protect the hull from an epoxy mess related to the deck glassing.   you can tape wax paper or saran wrap or additional blue tape if you want more protection (you can also replace the blue tape with packing tape....but i like something that is easy to see)  the most important thing regarding this technique, however is you need to cut the glass before it fully cures (when it is bubbly gum consistency) with a sharp box-cutter knife or else you will glue the tape to the boat.

you then need to let it fully cure and then i do my fill coats with a roller and go over it with a squeegee.   then you can sand and fair it in. 

 

with a little care, you can avoid a big mess and leverage the sanding you already did focusing on blending the deck glass is vs re-smoothing the entire side of the hull surface.

h

RE: How to minimize epoxy on hull while glassing deck?

   I've done similar on a Glen-L skiff I built years ago. I used duct tape though....it was easy to use a new razor knife along the tape to cut the glass when green, peel the tape , then use a scaper to fair the cut edge  to minimize sanding.

Makes a nice straight/contoured line rather than ragged edge of glass You can attach masking paper below to sheild drips after you tape the edge you want the cloth to end

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