Glen-L.com

I have applied my first coat of epoxy to encapsulate the outside of the Huron. There are a few drips and runs, so I guess I need to sand these off before I put the fiberglass on. Correct?

Also, I can see areas where with I did not get as much epoxy on or the wood absorbed it differently. I believe everything is covered with epoxy but I was wondering if I should apply a second coat of epoxy before I put on the fiberglass just to make sure. Is this over kill since several coats of epoxy will go on over the fiberglass?

Glen - L sent me one piece of fiberglass to cover the entire canoe. I have watched the fiberglass - How To video, but I am not sure if I should attempt to cover the entire canoe with one piece or blanket of fiberglass or should I cut it to tackle the top and sides separately? Can you please provide some guidance on this. I have visions of a big mess and not sure how one piece of fiberglass can be smoothed and coated with epoxy resin with out a lot of wrinkles. It seems like I read somewhere that the canoe should be done in one piece but I can't find where I read that and am beginning to doubt it.

As always, many thanks in advance to those who help me with their advice and experience.

Tom

You should be OK with the coating you have.

I would lay out the cloth over the boat and smooth out any wrinkles,then let it set overnight.

The next day,I'd smooth& work out any spots that need it,mix batches of resin and pour on from the keel area,spreading downwards.
I don't know on that model if you need to trim at the bow and stern stems to avoid wrinkles, but that will come to you as you work it

Use a roller to spread, then a squeegee to even up.....you will get a hang for working the resin into the cloth.

If you mix too much, it'll kick off before you are finished....use smaller batches and mix more as you need it.

After you mix, pour into a shallow chilled pan to slow the reaction time(pot life) I find that a roller pan has too much bulk at the deep end and kicks fast....so I use metal cookie sheets that I chill if I need to

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

For what it's worth I've personally found, having just glassed/epoxied my Zip, that about 12 oz. of mix is all I can handle at a time.

I have cups out with measured amounts of Part A and a measured syringe that I use to add the Part B to each cup and mix each next cup as I go. I use disposable paint tray liners and for the 12 oz. measures have had no 'flash' problems. I do use another disposable paint tray liner to roll out more excess out of the roller. I've found out the hard way that I am better off with more light coats than fewer thicker coats. Good luck.

If you do it in pieces then you will have quite a bit of extra work trying to 'feather' out the overlaps, but that is possible.

_________________
This is my first, last and only boat build.

http://www.gdzipbuild.blogspot.com

Well that did not go so well. In hindsight I should have had a helper or two. Now I have a big mess to fix. You can see from the pics that in one spot I think I may have put on epoxy that started to gel and it did not work out, I also have a couple of small areas where I just could not work out a wrinkle in the glass, so now I have a hard wrinkle or two. By the time I got to the last section, below the knuckle on the side planking, the epoxy had hardened and I could not make it work so I had to cut it off as a last resort. Not sure if this was the right thing to do but I had to do something. The area around the stem did not go so well either, but I can grind that off and I am going to add a keel afterwards so should cover up the messy stem.

Heavy Sigh. I guess I need to grind the bad spots down to bare wood and patch. Guidance?