Several weeks ago I posted here regarding epoxy problems I was having & the glass delaminating on the deck when I got to the stage of trimming the glass around the deck & cutting out for the cockpit on my storm LT. I just thought I would post with an update for all those who offered advice.
Since then, I have stripped off all the glass (it came off fairly easily in most places), scraped back the hardened epoxy & sanded back the deck to bare timber making sure I sanded out all of the previous epoxy.
I took a couple of samples of epoxied dark & light coloured timber to the local paint shop & colour matched some timber putty for the places where there was some tear out of the grain (there was still some tearing even using the heat gun).
I have now puttied, re-faired, sanded & glassed the deck again with much better results. This time I didn't pre-coat the timber, I put the cloth straight onto the bare timber, put on plenty of epoxy with the squeegie & went through the processes to firm the glass down to the deck. The cloth didn't quite wet out as thoroughly as I would have liked but that was more to do with the epoxy not being thin enough & going off a bit quicker than I had hoped for, there was no dramas with the timber or the cloth not getting enough epoxy. I recoated every few hours till I had put on about 3 fill coats then let it harden off before washing with warm water with a dash of white vinegar & then sanding, I would definitely do it this way again, so much faster & easier with what I consider is a better result.
I just touched the glass in a few places by the time I had sanded out most of the dimples etc.
I washed the sanded surface down again to get rid of any dust, made sure it was completely dry & then put on several more filler coats each a few hours apart & have now trimmed off all the cloth overhang & started finishing sanding ready to cut the cockpit again ( back to where I was a few weeks ago).
Considering the rough treatment the timber has had, I'm pretty happy with the result, It really is amazing how all the tear-outs etc that I though were going to look pretty ugly came up looking just like normal timber blemishes that you find in any natural timber.
When my son came to look at it, I started explaining all the problems I had experienced & pointed out all the repair work, he couldn't see it until he was standing up close & even then struggled to see what all the fuss was about, he said he wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't told him.
So this post is not only an update but also to encourage those that may be struggling with what they consider to be below average results. Believe me, timber is very forgiving & any blemishes may only be noticed by you.
Glen G.