Hey Spidey, I don't know any better how to describe it but I know exactly what Larry's talking about. It happened on my canoe and I've seen it on the only other two strip-built boats I've seen. I did NOT have the problem on the plywood Walrus I'm currently working on. The difference between my two boats: The epoxy and 6 oz. glass for the canoe came from Gougeon; for the Walrus, from RAKA. Could be 6oz. vs. 3.25 oz. glass. Could be West System epoxy vs. RAKA epoxy. Significantly, one of the other strippers I've seen was built by the dealer who sold me the Gougeon products though I must admit I have no way of knowing for sure what products he used. FWIW Tom

: One last time, Larry . . . ;-)

: My surfboard buddy, Dan,stopped by the house to check progress this evening,
: and I related your predicament to him. He said of all the board mfrs he's
: worked for up & down the caost, he'd never seen the problem as you
: describe. They would not be able to build the boards the way they do if
: sanded glass didn't disappear in a fresh coat of epoxy. They sand with
: abandon, and never worry about fill coats before sanding. This is my
: experience also.

: He said perhaps contamination of the cloth or poor coating on the cloth,
: otherwise it would wet out and disappear. I will add one other possibility
: that came to mind - Dull sandpaper. If instead of cutting the cloth, you
: simply rubbed the coating from the protruding glass strands, it will never
: again wet out properly.

: FWIW, Spidey