Fairing a hull

[bobbaird]

Hi all,
I am finally stripping. Took 60 hours to get to this point but what fun.

It appears I may have some low spots from slight uneven widths of strips (had to cut them on a Shopsmith the freezing cold) and then got carried away trying to fix them with a plan. I understand I can fair with epoxy and the right additive (which I have), but I am wondering 1)when to do that and 2)if it will show (discoloration because of the additive). Assuming I work the hull through sanding and still have the low spots, would I fair with the expoy and then sand before I wet out the glass? Would it still be as clear as the rest of the hull? Or, am I just going about this wrong.
Thanks,
Bob

[Moonman]

Hi Bob,

Best approach in my opinion would be to continue sanding the entire hull, then put on a a full coat of epoxy. There should be no additives in the epoxy, just the correct amounts of resin and hardner. I think this would enable you to to get a better seamless edge for the low spots with the surrounding hull. Of course you can also just fill the low spots, but it may be then harder to sand fair, as the epoxy will be harder than the surrounding cedar and your sander may then sand down into that softer cedar, creating more headaches. You will still get a nice clear finish with pre-coating, so don't worry about that. Also best to have everything smooth and fair before glassing. If for some reason you still have a low spot after you think everything is fair, its easy to go back and add a little more epoxy and then sand smooth again. If you find a spot still a bit low, but you have already fiberglassed the hull, you'd have to sand through the glass to fix it...

Hope this helps.

Moonman.

[BearLeeAlive]

Bob, I would first knock down all the high ridges with a sharp block plane, then some quick passes with 80 grit on a fairing board to roughly fair out your hull. You might be surprised that many of these spots you are worried about may have already faired out and disappeared. And if not, use a flexible rule bent around the hull across the bad spots to ascertain just how deep they are. If they are within 1/16" (and I be most are) you could just carefully continue to use your fairing board and remove them.

As far as building up with epoxy, I will leave any suggestions there to the more experienced folks with that stuff.

[Moonman]

Yes, I'd agree with BearleeAlive on making sure the low spots are indeed a significant issue first ( which of course you may have already done!). Also use a long fairing board for best results.

Moonman.

[bobbaird]

Thanks much. I will continue to strip and worry about the unevenness when it is ready to sand then. I think I got a bit impatient in my desire for perfection :-) Once stipped, I'll hit it with the block plane and use the metal ruler strategy to find any low spots. Then I'll fair with a fairing board and sand paper and see where I am at. If horrible, I'll go the epoxy route (no additives other than hardener) before the glass and be careful with the sanding afterwards. Sounds like a plan.
Bob