: I'm helping a friend with some local "tech support" as he's
: building an Arctic Tern and a Coho. He started with the insides of the
: butt joints, but is having a problem getting that fine-weave glass tape to
: wet out fully and disappear.

: I told him I thought he should brush the epoxy onto both sides of the tape
: before applying it to the wood to make sure it get a chance to saturate--I
: didn't think the epoxy was traveling completely through the tape, causing
: his white spots. Any other thoughts?

Shawn,

Wetting out the tape should not be a real challenge. Have you actually seen the pieces? The suggestion from Nick with the chip brush is exactly the advice I would offer. On rare occasions some of that tape will be defective and not want to wet out. This is one of the reasons that our manual instructs the builder to start on the inside of the hull. If you can, run a test yourself with a piece of the tape from the kit. If you are unable to wet it out, the builder should contact me and I will replace the tape. Making a piece of tape from the six ounce cloth is easy as well. Removing a couple threads from the 38" wide cloth, and then cutting across width where the threads were removed yields a nice piece of tape that will wet out very easily.

Dave Grimmer
Pygmy Boats

: Shawn