I have put on 5 thin coats on my Chesapeake 16lt using a roller (except for the first coat). I have read the article on “Filling the Weave” and other suggestions on this forum. I am still a bit perplexed. I have been using about 5 oz of resin per coat. Yet the weave is still showing in spots (photos attached). So either I am not using enough resin or the weave is “printing” to the top coat. I assume I am seeing printout at this point and not unfilled weave? Is the only way to know is to start sanding and see if the weave is just “printing” or if I start to cut into cloth I know I need more epoxy
?
Those pictures look like printed through weave to me.
Laszlo
Laszlo,
Thanks. I think so too. I do need to sand anyway for the varnish.
Rob
Robert,
my gut and eyeballs tells me you don’t have print through. you have properly wet out the cloth but have not applied enough epoxy to fill the weave such that you can sand it and not cut into the glass.
the key thing in getting a light boat is: 1) to have the cloth wet out and tight to the underlying substrate; and 2) no more epoxy then you need to be able to sand and not cut into the weave. the good news on element 2 is you can sand away excess epoxy on top of the glass…so my focus tends to be on point 1…and then having material to work with and getting a smooth surface vs fighting with seeing divots and needing to keep adding epoxy in multiple cycles.
a 5 oz application, at the end of the day, is extremely thin if your statement is accurate. you have a 16 lt hull and the surface area of that hull is probably in the neighborhood of 32 square feet. heuristics from west marine and jamestown call for ~ 1.4 oz per square foot to ‘bury the weave’ - or about 44 oz (32 sq ft x 1.4 oz per square foot). when i do a hull for my last 15.5 footer am usually doing 10 to 8 oz cups and five coats…but you said you were only doing 5 oz?
what i would do is apply your next coat with a squeegee or spreader. this pushes the epoxy into the divots and minimizes print through and is the technique i use in the last couple coats. the nice thing about this technique is it automatically removes waste epoxy…so you don’t have to spend a lot of time sanding it off…its ok at the end that you typically end up leaving epoxy in the cup.
in sum, i would not bother sanding given the pictures i am seeing…try the squeegee/spreader. it should look more filled prior to sanding…otherwise i think you are just wasting a lot of energy.
h
I concur with Howard on this one. My general method, especially on the outside of the hull or deck, is the dump and squeegie method. Yes, I drip some on the floor but it insures the cloth is fully wet out. The second coat is a repeat of this but with slightly less epoxy applied. Yes, this leaves a fairly thick coat. After it cures for a couple of days I will then give it a rough sanding, 80 grit, which will smooth the high spots and show me the low areas. The 3rd coat I apply with a chip brush (or roller).
I tend not to get fussy with overall weight and I find that this method does not add much. My last 3 boats (2 microBootlegger Sports and a Petrel Sport) were all around 35 lbs.
Howard,
Thanks for the response, in particular, that I was not using enough resin. Perhaps I am off about the 5oz. I was measuring about 10-12 pumps. I like the idea of using a squeegee to cover the low spots but not adding too much to the already filled areas. I really don’t mind sanding that much, particularly if I can use an orbital, and I’d like to add more than less to avoid sanding into the cloth. I assume I need to scuff first. It has been about 48 hours since I finished the last coat. I won’t be able to get to another coat until early tomorrow morning.
Rob
Daniel,
Thank you for your response. Bottom line is I can sand away any excess. That eases my mind about adding too much. I appreciate your help.
Rob
And yet another method:
I squeegee the wetting out coat and use a chip brush to get the odd dry area, mostly by dabbing.
I then use Nick’s method of using a chip brush to fill the weave , much like one does with varnish: lengthwise to apply the epoxy, side to side to spread it, and lengthwise again to even it out - mostly tipping at that point. I did this in my last build with temps in the high 60’s ( so epoxy was a bit thicker), and filled with one coat. Took little sanding to get a nice smooth finish. The kayak came out 5 lbs under the CLC stated weight.
Steve,
Thanks. Incredibly, I have been considering another build after this. I’ll keep this in mind and review Nick’s superb videos.
Rob
The bug has bit. You need to use all those skills you learned right?
