: Mark, the general idea is to have enough layers of epoxy so that when you
: sand the surface in preparation for varnish you don't cut into the glass.
: You are sanding off the high spots to the degree that there are no high
: spots, if you put on a lot of fill coats there could be everything from
: bugs to mountains of drips to scrape/sand off, if you put on a minimal
: thickness of fill coats the weave of the glass may be showing through with
: just enough filled into the low spots that careful sanding brings it all
: to one layer. So you could start with 80-150 grit and end with 150-220
: grit depending on how things are going and the nature of the shape. hey,
: I'm a rank beginner compared to some of the folks here so don't take
: anything I say for gospel. It takes a while to figure how much is too much
: and what's just right,,,and even then there's still room for error.

After wet-out of my glass, and this may or may not include a second below waterline only layer of glass, I immediately roll on three fill coats as soon as the previous coat is a hard tack. Sometimes I wait overnight if this is more convenient. System Three resins say you can recoat up to 72 hours without sanding but I do it as soon possible. I don't bother wasting time fiddling with drips or glass strands/edges. I'm going to drip new resin on the deck and hull when I glass the exterior seams anyway and have to sand then, so I leave all my sanding and smoothing until my exterior seams are glassed. Then I feather the edges of the seams and the below waterline layer of glass and also stem glass and drips using 60 grit & ROS. I don't try to remove all the resin to a total matte surface but just knock down the glass edges and high spots on the surfaces. The newly exposed raw glass on all feathered seams needs to be coated with fresh resin, otherwise the raw glass will show through the varnish.I watch carefully as I sand the larger surfaces of the deck and hull to see if the tops of the glass fibers are exposed (white dots) and stop before I do any damage

After the rough sanding I apply 2-3 thin coats of fresh resin. By applying coats of new resin I ensure my finish sanding will not cut into the glass layer and I coat the raw glass exposed by feathering. These new coats of resin will fill all the scratches of the 60 grit and make the boat look like it's varnished. Then I sand with 150 and 220 and varnish. I sometimes sand with 220 only but this will clog the fine sandpaper very quickly unless you give the new resin a week to cure.

All the best,

Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.LaughingLoon.com