I've been using fiberglass since 1954 and have done dozens of layups, mostly with epoxy and all with standard, loose weave glass. Last week I tried my first satin glass, two layers of 3.25 oz, using epoxy with a squeegee and System Three regular resin. I immediatly discovered that it was not going on like my small test samples and trying to work out bubbles resulted in wrinkles, and some blisters simply refused to go away. Supplementing with Clear Coat in the troublesome areas was the only thing that allowed me to continue. (I didn't have enough Clear Coat on hand to do more than supplement.) I made a decision the next day that since it was only the hull, I'd just live with the humps and bumps in the surface and went ahead and added two fill coats which covered all the weave nicely. In weighing the hull, I find that my results are 35% glass, 65% epoxy. Reducing the weight was my whole purpose in using satin, and this is giving me more weight, not less.

I ordered more Clear Coat but it won't come until tomorrw, and being impatient as I am, and having the deck ready last night I went ahead and tried a single layer of satin. I found that it wasn't working to use a squeegee on the single layer, the glass moves around too much, wrinkling and sliding. So, I switched to a roller. I found that the roller left bubbles on the surface and they would not tip out without dragging the cloth, so I just left them. This morning, I see that I have fewer bumps and wrinkles but still quite a few plus all the bubbles and I'm thinking of grinding all the bumps down to wood and patching in with more layers of glass. Maybe I will do the same on the hull too.

Having never had anything but the best results on glass before, and now having two botched jobs in a row, is quite a blow. Anyone have any secret techniques for working with satin glass that they would like to share?