I have recently finished the coaming ring for the Cormorant 16 I am currently building. It is made of fibreglass using the method described by Spidey and others but instead of using foam to make the form I used a length of high pressure rubber hose made into a large "O" ring and placed this around the edge of the cockpit cutout. It worked very well and I have a very nicely rounded coaming ring. Anyway, to get the final surface smooth I used epoxy with microballons and a tinting paste to get it a cream colour. The microballons were put in to make the colour more opaque and not tend to run so easily. The problem with this is that the finish is not as smooth as with non-thickened epoxy. So I sanded the ring with 1200 wet and dry paper and the finish came out a very silky smooth matt finish. I gave this a bit of a polish with some plastic polish and now it has a matt sheen look to it. I like this look so much I am thinking of finishing the hull, which I was going to paint, in the same way. So the question I am asking is, will this finish stand up well to UV. I know epoxy degrades with exposure to UV but will the added tint and miroballons prevent the degradation. What are peoples thoughts.
If anyone would like any info on how I made the ring let me know.
P.S. Is Grant Goltz of Squeedunk kayaks still around I haven't seen a post from him for a while and the Squeedunk site hasn't been updated for a long time.