: When I was getting ready to glass the outside of my current
: project, I applied a seal coat of epoxy on the outside of the
: hull. After rolling it on, it was not very smooth so I tipped it
: off with a foam brush but it still had a slightly
: "rough" feel to it.
: Having read that the object of applying the seal coat is to simply
: seal the wood and any excess epoxy is just dead weight, I took a
: couple of paper towels and wiped a small section to see if the
: surface would smooth out. What I experienced was that the
: surface smoothed out as I wiped, the epoxy seemed to be
: "pressed" slightly into the grain and I was removing
: quite a bit of excess epoxy with the towels. So, I decided to
: "wipe down" the entire hull with paper towels and see
: if I could get a good result. After the epoxy cured, the surface
: was very smooth and the glass cloth wet out great without any
: starvation that I could detect.
: I used this same approach on the outside of the deck and inside
: both deck and hull. I like the result I got as it provided me a
: very smooth sealed surface to drape the cloth over.

: So, my question to the "experts" on this forum is: Have
: you ever done anything similar and what were your results. Also,
: would appreciate any comments or even reprimands if they are in
: order.....

: Bob Beaullieu

The surface roughness you experience will be raised wood grain.

I wet down my wood surface before each sanding so I don't get much if any raised grain
since the wood grain get at least four chances to raise before I do a seal coat.

My seal coat is applied with temperatures dropping to take advantage of the wood pores
sucking in air to also pull in resin. So, I would not remove resin since the wood will absorb
it over an undetermined period of time.

I can imagine someone who is using a fast hardener for their seal coat, trying to wipe it
down with paper towels and having them stick to the boat. Ouch!

And I apply a pretty thin coat of resin to start with. Yes, the wood will absorb the resin at
different rates in different areas. Some spots may look dry and others glossy.
I don't touch it. When it's tack free I glass it.

So if you applied a thick dripping coat of epoxy it might be a good thing.

If you apply the right amount with a roller, the surface will look wet without an apparent
thickness to the coating. There will be no need to "tip off" the coating.

Rob