> It would be okay to use cabosil or other thickeners if you were going to
> paint over but they do not match the transparency or color of epoxy alone.
> I mask off a lot of my work with tape and news paper. The extra time it
> takes to mask is saved by not having to sand/scrape off the runs.

In my yare I used raka. I did have some trouble with dripping... I'm not sure if there is a thixotrope that sets up clear. in Charles Walbridges boat builders manual he says to stay away from cab o sil because it will make sanding MUCH harder. especially using tape... you will get low spots on the edge of the tape if there is cabosil on the tape and none off... if you are painting the area, you could use very fine sawdust or flour "my personal choice." for the filler coats, but not the wet out. Plain bleached flour is great... it does make a gritty consistency but it can be sanded smooth with very little work.

what you may consider doing to prevent drips when you are first wetting out tape. is to use a little plastic rap over the cloth... with your hands you can squeeze out as much epoxy as possible even before it has set up. It can also help make the cloth smoother to make less fill coats necessary.

I use this method when repairing holes in fibreglass or kevlar boats. Put a patch on with alot of resin... to be sure that it gets enough... then put a piece of plastic rap over the fibreglass patch and push all the extra resin to the outside. then I pull the plastic away just to the edge of the fibreglass patch and wipe up the excess epoxy. with a rag then with a paper towel or shop towel with some rubbing alcohol on it. this works great especially if you make the plastic very smooth... because it doesn't require any more coats. just a coat of gelcoat and it's ALL good.

This is all straight out of my head... except for the part about cab o sil... so it may be wrong... but logic tells me that it is right.

For what it's worth

DAVE

and yes goerge I used spell check... JUST FOR YOU