Interior Deck to Hull Seam Finishing

I've finally completed fileting and taping the interior deck to hull seams on my Shearwater 17.  This was definately a messy and cramped job, but I think it worked out okay. - certainly not beautiful in th end compartments though.  Adding a day hatch actually made the process mcuh tougher with the additional bulkhead to seal and difficult contortions requied to work in the day hatch.

Anyhow, what do people generally do about the tape edges in the end compartments?  The 9oz tape has a raised edge, which appears perfect for catching on dry bags and gear generally.  It would be tough to get an RO sander in there and even harder to see what I'm doing.  Do builders normally just use a sanding block to knock the edges down instead (or maybe just leave the tape edges alone)?  I guess I'm looking for guidance on how much time people generally spend smoothing and finishing the sealed compartments that no one but me is likely to ever see.

The latest picture of my build are at http://picasaweb.google.com/103890661225113314730/ZCShearwater17#

They're posted in chronological order, but there's not much to see of the seam tape.

Thanks for your help.

-Zach


5 replies:

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RE: Interior Deck to Hull Seam Finishing

I'd use a sanding block and knock down the rough edges that are apt to snag something or slice your hand.  As you say, no one is going to see it so do not worry about the looks.

Paul

RE: Interior Deck to Hull Seam Finishing

What Paul said. That's what I've done on three boats. Use a very course sandpaper and it will take only a few minutes. -Wes

RE: Interior Deck to Hull Seam Finishing

I used my paint scraper (I think works better than sandpaper on long raised linear features like this) to reach as far as I could to knock down those raised edges soon after it had cured so it wasn't rock hard.  I was concerned this might have gone through the epoxy into the glass, so I then put a thin coat of epoxy over the edge then next time I had a batch mixed up for some other purpose.  This also helped to smooth things over.  

Kathy

RE: Interior Deck to Hull Seam Finishing

You should at the very least hit the rough spots to prevent poking holes in your dry bags or snaging stuff. On the other end of the scale you could give it a nice finish. It's really up to you...

RE: Interior Deck to Hull Seam Finishing

Thanks everyone.  I'll just sand down the edges.  Dehager - That looks amazing.  I'd love to acheive that finish, but it would extremely difficult in the shearwater, which uses a taped seam at the hull-to-deck joint, rather than shear clamps.  If I had five-foot long gumby arms with eyes on my hands, I'd give it a try.  Given my limitations though, I'll just try to keep the hatches on the boat when showing it off.

 -Zach 

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