: Hey Rehd,

: Paul here from the skin searing desert floor of Phoenix AZ. I don't know what
: kind of epoxy you are using - but I think your only hope is slower
: hardener.

Hi Paul.....I'm stuck with what came in the Glen-L kit. The boat isn't mine and my brother( his boat ) is on a budget. It is a slow hardener, but, I'm led to believe that Glen-L's epoxy is a bit thick to begin with.

: Otherwise - you could try to develop some kind of new-age time distortion
: techniques - or become the fastest fillet-person in the west.

I'm already in a distortion zone, this is California. Many of my patrons are sporting more rings, chains and wires than C3PO.

: BTW - on my first S&G project I let my nasty first-timer lumpy fillets
: harden. I was using some incredibly hard epoxy / filler from a local
: laminate expert. I was quite crestfallen when I started trying to smooth
: the stuff out enough to 'glass over. I had a nice little two week break
: while I mustered the where-with-all to overcome this drawback. I think I
: used about every sanding / scraping / grinding technology known - but I
: eventually got through it.

I got most of the chunks off before they hardened, but, didn't get too much actual useable fillets. Will take some sanding anyway.

The filleting is
: really easy if you have time to scoop the stuff into a ziplock - squeeze
: beads into the seams cake decorator style - smooth the beads into fillets
: with your favorite radiusing thingy -

I like baking and have plenty of decorator icing bags and tips. Good idea. The ziplock bags would suffice I'm sure. Only problem is, I don't have any asbestous gloves. Epoxy in a plastic bag......are you nuts!! You must be a relocated Californian. :) LOL

I like modified bondo spreaders or
: modified and epoxy coated plywood scraps

I've got a bag of little wooden tongue depressers for the fillets

- then drop the 'glass tape on -
: wet it out - smooth it out a little further and get all the bubbles and
: concavities out. Then be sure to come back when the stuff is green with
: little paint scraper or similar and feather the edges of the tape in.
: Makes for a long session of hazardous material fashioning - but it saves
: lots of time and effort.

: BTW - I'm taking August off work to drive up through the Northwest. I'm
: hoping to make it to Sequoia National Park on the way back

If you can take an extra day, you can see both Yosemite and Sequoia National parks in two days. Both are spectacular this tiime of year. Yosemite is about 1 1/2 hrs. to the northeast and Sequoia is the same to the Southeast. I am partial to Yosemite but, they won't let you drive through it any more. They have trams for people, and it costs around $20 a car to get in. Not sure about Sequoia. If you need redwood........... Oh, never mind.

- perhaps the
: last week of August. Wouldn't mind putting a face with your witty posts.
: Let me know if you are interested.

You may be sorry you did that, but, Yes, I would like some company for a day. You realize that August is the hottest time of year around here and it's 100* now. Heck, we could sit around and put resin and hardener next to each other and watch to see how close we could get it before it hardens. :) There aren't any good places to eat, but, they're cheap.......... so, come on over and we'll have lunch.......dinner.....or, whatever. Heck,( again )I am getting to like August. First, I got a date for the first week of August with a nice young lady from Church, and now, a guest for the day, the last week of August. I haven't had that much attention since I came back from Nam. O.K., O.K., so they watch me occasionally to see if......Oh, wait for the book.

: Good luck with those summer time fillets. If I can get this crick worked out
: of my back - I'm headed out for a sweaty paddle with the motor boats - but
: the sunset over the mountains by the lake and moon coming up over your
: shoulder and turning the sky all lavender is hard to say no to.

I think I'll have an easier time fo them now, since I went out to visit a fellow builder near here this morning. Quite the builder, and full of good ideas and tips. Thanks David!!! With his help, Spidey's help as well as others from this board, I'll get through this challenge and maybe become an authority on what not to work with in 100*+ temps. in the Fresno area.

: Cheers, PC

Let me know when you will be around for sure and I'll get whatever day it is off and we can visit and maybe I can talk David into letting us visit him and his shop. Pretty neat guy. He's invited me out again this evening and I'm going to watch him do some fiberglassing on the inside of a canoe. That will help me a bunch. Gotta go and make some perfect fillets. :)

Rehd