: In "The New Kayak Shop" it says "Apply fiberglass
: tape to the fillets while they are still wet; if the fillets are
: allowed to harden, they must be sanded smooth prior to applying
: the tape." My question is, why do you have to sand them?
: Epoxy will adhere to epoxy in either case, won't it? If your
: fillets are fairly smooth to begin with, then why would sanding
: them help? Why can't you just wet them with a little epoxy then
: lay the tape over that?
: I'm not being lazy, it just seems like there's less chance of me
: messing up my nice clean fillets by letting them harden when
: they are perfect, and then doing the tape later.

Once the fillets have hardened, you will no longer be able to slide the cloth to position it properly over the fillet. The fibers will catch on every little ridge and it will be incredibly frustrating (I'm just guessing :-) ). Also, you will wind up applying excess epoxy to wet out the cloth and fill all the little gaps and voids since you will not be able to squegee the cloth. So if you apply the tape while the fillets are still wet, you will make them a bit "dented" but it is much easier and requires much less epoxy.