It's too bad that the butt joints are the first thing that Pygmy builders are faced with. I spent a lot of time trying to get them perfect when I was building my Tern, and learned much later that once the boat is put together, the glass on the butt joints can be completely sanded off -- the glass serves to connect the plywood pieces during the early stages of building the boat, but is unnecessary once the hull and deck are glassed.

Precoat the joint areas with epoxy, let them cure, then brush on a thin layer of epoxy, lay on the glass tape, wet it out with epoxy (using the chip brush or foam brush helps) and then use the plastic squeegee to help wet the glass out and get rid of the excess epoxy. It's worth while masking the area before slapping on the epoxy, and I found that using hard transparent plastic report covers over the joints -- weighted with a brick -- made for smoother joints than using plastic kitchen wrap. Before I discovered the value of the squeegee and thin plastic, I wound up with somewhat lumpy joints -- particularly where the epoxy oozed out of the plastic -- that took a lot of sanding to feather out.

It all gets easier after the butt joints (well, there are a few more challenges facing you with glassing the inside of the hull). You might as well order a dozen or more foam rollers and foam brushes now, and lay in a stock of about 100 pairs of latex gloves. And you have your respirator, right?

Jim