: G,day
: I have varnishing, foot braces, bulkheads and some hatch details left before
: launching, and when I climbed in to get placement of braces I caught every
: piece of clothing and skin on something. This generates a number of
: questions. The inside glassing gave me problems with the glass
: delaminating from the hull at the seam where it's vertical which led to
: some spots being sanded out and uneveness that made seaming the inside
: difficult and produced sharp edges. Answer: disposable clamps along the
: seam when glassing? other methods? Also the reinforcement glassing
: produced many edges, and I didn't have the foresight to clean these up
: really well, so now after difficult sanding positions I'm sure there are
: some delaminated layers I can't see which may provide a path for the water
: to reach the wood: major problem? or should airing it after use do the
: trick?
: Also, when doing the hatch lip I used several overlapping strips to get
: around the pentagon...producing slight levels where they meet that I fear
: may prevent a good seal. Solution: more epoxy to fill and level it?, and
: if so shall I need to sand off some of the hatch cover edge to keep it
: flush with the surrounding body?
: I'd also be interested in preventative measures for future building
: considerations.
: Many thanks,
: James

Generally your answer is to scrape or sand.

Scrapers work really well if you do the job when the resin is set, but not completely hard. Sometimes this state is called "Green", although the resin is certainly not that color. Otherwise, once the resin hardens you'll have to resort to sandpaper.

Remove all rough edges and high spots. That includes overlaps from edges of cloth which was applied in pieces. Then put on a single layer of epoxy resin to cover the areas. this prevents any expeosed edges of glass fibers from wicking in water. Sand lightly and varnish.

If you go through the entire thickness of the glass cloth and get down to the wood then you'll need to patch the area. If that happens, carefully sand the area two inches to each side, gently tapering the glassed area from full thickness to no thickness. This tapering-back of the glass is called "feathering". When you lay a patch of glass and fresh resin over this area it will fill the bowl-like depression.Then, when you later sand off the high spots at the edges of the repair you'll leave enough glass behind, filling the depression and its gently sloping edges, to give you the necessary strength. If you were to slice through the repair you would see a tapered layer of glass cloth mathcing another tapered layer of glass cloth, just like the wood tapers in a scarf joint. Patches done this way are darn near invisible once they are varnished. I have about a dozen pathes on my cnaoe and can probably find the outline of only one.

Glass which has delaminated may, or may not trap water. It all depends on whther water can get into the pocket or bubble. You have a couple of choices here. You cna inject the bubble with liquid resin. That will harden into a fairly strong blob which will bond the glass to the wood, and not leave any space for water.

Or, you can sand off the delaminated area (s) and patch it (them). Unless these are also areas where there are sharp ends from the glass you don't need to do this now. Wait until you pull the boat out of the water in the fall and do all your patching at one time. You can repair the exterior dings and scratches as well as any interior spots that annoy you. Varnish before you store it. By next spring the boat will look beautiful when you pull it out of storage.

Carry duct tape and cover any sharp spots that might get you. You can leave the tape on to cover the sharp edges until you have time to make the repairs.

Hope this helps.

PGJ