: My father and I built a couple of Georgian Bays in 1993-94 and they are in
: need of some scratch removal work on the hulls. I have sanded and
: re-varnshed a couple of times over the years but am now thinking that I
: may want epoxy in some of the larger scrapes (none through to the wood but
: pretty deep).

sounds like a good plan. Sand through the varnish with a fine grit sandpaper and put on a couple thin coats of epoxy resin.

: I have a few questions: 1. I have heard of people using plastic wrap to
: force/help keep epoxy in a scrape. Does this work, is it necessary to
: avoid running, what is the best process?

This is usually used when the resin is applied with new cloth. It allows a thicker coating of resin to build up in the fabric, possibly saving time on additional coats for filling the weave of the fabric. If you have deep gouges and plan to patch them with mre cloth -- or for those areas where you are going to add a layer of new glass cloth as a skid barrier layer -- you might try this. Applying even pressure to the surface of the plastic wrap is important. If yo are doing this over the keel at the bow and stern you might have some difficulty, though. Consider using sandbags. Hit the kitchen or local grocery store for supplies. A 1 gallon size clear plastic food storage bag should hold about 5 pounds of sand. Get a 50 pound ( or bigger) bag of playground sand at your local hardware/homecenter store and transfer as much as you need to the samller, more flexible bags. The clear bags will help you see wrinkles in the plastic, but you'll need to shift the bags around to get the sand out of the way, first. If you have a kitchen heat sealing device for plastic bags you might consider using water in those bags instead of sand. Beside the savings in cost, you can easily see any wrinkles. Water filled bags are harder to balance, though, so getting them to stay in place could be a challenge.

: 2. Is Helmsman's varnish good enough or should I use Z-spar or another
: Captain's Varnish? Pros and cons of the different brands?

Practically every brand has its supporters. What are you used to? There are few reports of awful varnish. Except for old stock. Get fresh materials and use a rag or brush.

: 3. Since I will be doing 2 boats at the same time with 3+ coats I would like
: to speed up the process..... can varnish be sprayed (if thinned) through a
: Wagner Power Painter (TM) or am I just asking for trouble?

by hand it takes a bit over an hour to varnish one boat. Two hours for two boats. With a sprayer you'll do a boat in a bit under half an hour, after you spend 5 minutes getting the viscosity right. After that you need to spend aother 20 minutes cleaning the sprayer, and you'll spend money on the cleaning solvent or thinner (which is no good to breathe) For the few minutes of time saved, you should go with a disposable brush.

: 4. We ignored common sense (and Rob Mack's excellent instructions) and did
: not add "skid-plates" at the bow and stern. Now after years of
: trying to avoid gliding up on beaches, the cloth is somewhat exposed in
: these areas. I have probably answered my own question but... should I add
: a glass skid plate? and if so, what is the best material? (epoxy
: impregnated cloth, 2 layers of 6 oz, etc?)

After all these years the layer of glass is merely exposed? With that pattrern of use you can safely go with a single layer of 4 or 6 ounce glass. If your gouging over the years has not gone through the existing glass it is unlikely it would go through TWO layers of glass. so, the new layer you are adding may be the recipient of some abuse, but it will protect the layer under it.
Sand off the existing varnish carefully. It doesn't take a lot of work. You can even do this by hand with a block of wood covered with a sheet of 100 grit sandpaper. You want to avoid going through the existing epoxy and cutting into the glass cloth. However, If there are gouges that go down to the wood, then you DO want to be more aggressive. use coarser sandpaper and go right down to the wood, sanding away the damaged cloth. Areas that go down to the wood get a patch. The rest of the area gets a strip 9 to 15 inches wide (depending on the concentration of the scratches. Look at the areas of wear. Go as narrow as necessary to cover all by the occasional stray scratch) You can place the patches on, then, while the resin is still liquid, lay the "skid plate" fabric right on top, covering old glass and new patches alike. use your squeegee to spread the resin, but don't scrape the material too dry. Plastic wrap on top of this and cover with weights.

: 5. In a recent post it was suggested that the deck and hull could be sprayed
: at the same time by handing the boat up with a 2x2 under the deck at the
: cockpit... sounds brilliant!!! what kind of sprayers work?

And if you suspend the boat from the grabloops at each end you can varnish it by hand, doing the hull first, and then flipping the boat over to do the deck.

Sounds like you are trying to sell yourself on buying a sprayer

: The boats have served us well over the yars and now deserve a little fixing
: up so we can get even more fun out of them. I appreciate any suggestions
: that you may have.

Add cupholders.

: Our boats are pretty(though not as detailed and
: beautiful as some pictured on this message board)I want to make sure they
: stay that way. A freind paddled one of them last week and was so impressed
: by it that he ordered a CLC S&G kit this week (he wants to be done and on
: the water this summer so a stripper was out of the question). I think that
: is a testament to what everyone on this board already knows.... these
: boats are wonderful, a blast to build and paddle.

Sounds like an advertisement, but if we label it as a product endorsement I think we can keep your enthusiasm from triggering a nasty response from the ad police It is reassuring to note that some people build the right boat the first time and don't need to build 3 or 4 more. just goes to show that the addiction is controlable, wven if it is not curable.

: Happy building/paddling!!

: Jon Allen

And the same to you

PGJ