Glen-L.com

I am in a death spiral...

I started by putting three layers of epoxy on the deck

When I sanded, I sanded through in a few places. I patched those places up, and sanded again... I just moved the sand-thrus around (I think they are growing).

So... What would happen if I varneshed over sand-thrus? Would they show?

I guess I could throw another two or three full coats of epoxy on and sand again... but what will stop me from sanding through again? I am worried that I'll never get a complete epoxy covering.

At the rate I'm going, I'll just be putting epoxy on and sanding it right back off again all summer.

If I don't get to varnish soon, I won't make my launch.

another option would be to say "Screw It" and sand off all the epoxy, and just go with varnish on the deck.

HELP!

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Bruce

I don't know. But, what I did was 3 coats sand with 150 as little as possible between coat to give a gray surface and solvent washed. I used 220 on the last coat, with solvent wash, before going to polyurethane clear-coat.

Bill

_________________
Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

You said you sanded through.........sanded through what?
sanded through the clear epoxy to the fabric?
sanded thru the fabric down to the wood?

you said you patched it up in afew places.......patched what?
patched the clear epoxy over fabric?
patched putting clear epoxy over bare wood?

I dont fully understand what you got,, but am I to assume you propose to put varnish over bare wood spots hoping it will match clear epoxy?
If so, I'll bet it won't.

I had to tear out fabric in a large spot, and feathered it back in. It CAN be done!! (but it was in a painted area)

I bet some of the real purist would sand all of the epoxy off (I don't know what you used for the little "white lines") and then just varnish and protect it...

Those books that I have on brightwork really detail the process well and it looks absolutly incredible.

Steve

Kens.

Sorry that I was imprecise.

I did not use cloth. Three coats of epoxy right on the mahogany. sanding between each layer.

As I sanded the the final layer of epoxy.... chasing pinholes... , there are spots where I went thru it, right to the wood.

When I tried to do local patching, the patches blended in very nicely, but the sand-thrus just re-appeared at the edges of my patches.

Unless someone talks me out of it, I think I'm just going to sand the stuff off and go to varnish.

Or... maybe I'll layer on two more full coats of epoxy and try again... sigh.

Another sleepless night pondering my options.

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

AH ha!!
I'll bet you are not block sanding. What kind of sander/sanding are you doing there?
Are you using a longboard? blocksanding?
jitterbug, DA sander?

You just did your transom, right? Can you send me some pics of that? Can you send me some pics that I cansee the light reflecting off of it?

Bruce-
you could use a scotchbrite pads instead. it will be a little more forgiving as the edge of the abrasive is soft and will not cut thru. keep the sandpaper on your ro or longboard and the grit will hold the scotchbrite pads on.
-Billy

_________________
(insert witty phrase here)
Billy's Belle Isle website

I had to go to manual labor and use fine sanding pads at hard edges.

Bill

_________________
Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

"So... What would happen if I varneshed over sand-thrus? Would they show? "

In my experience, they will show. I sanded through on the mahogany gunwale on my center console and just varnished anyway. There is a distinct color difference where I sanded through.

KB

_________________
"I'm not trying to get it perfect. I'm trying to get it finished!"
Squirt Build: http://www.tubbytug.com/SquirtHome.html

Thanks, all.

And thanks KB for sharing your specific experience.

I put two more coats of epoxy on last night. We will sand carefully this time.

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Frustrating for sure, but lots of good advice !
Here's more : Don't give up !

If you're sanding through on three coats, this is telling you that :
a) you're sanding too much (yes, there is such a thing !) or,
b) you're not using a block of some sort to prevent the sandpaper from gouging the surface, or
c) the surface is not straight enough (waves).

Apply another coat or two (or as many as needed !) with minimal block-sanding between coats.
When you're not breaking through anymore, it's straight. The idea is to build up the film thickness
sufficiently to allow block-sanding and still leave adequate film build when you're done.
Then all you have to do is get it smooth with progressively finer grit.

Remember, this thing has to fetch the Best Deck Award next fall
We're rooting for you !
__________________
Paul Kane Chelsea, PQ

Building the Glen-L Hot Rod : http://www.boats.chelseacoachworks.com

Final sanding really does need to be done by hand. (good excuse to go get a few ales, and relax.) nothing gets it done any faster. Long blocks are a must.

Don't varnish/poly over the sandthroughs, the wood will absorb the low viscosity finish at a different rate than the epoxy, and they show horribly.

Thanks to all for the advice.

(especially the Ales...)

I ended up putting two more coats of epoxy on, then re-sanding the whole deck and transom.

The long blocks seem to have done the trick.

Unfortunately, I figured out the long blocks AFTER putting the two extra coats on, and the long blocks highlighted a few more sand-thrus.

But at this point, the sand thrus are legitimate high spots, rather than my sanding errors.

We are getting close. I am just putting a couple of more coats of epoxy on selected deck boards and the transom.

If I can start varnishing in a week, I may still make my August 1st launch target.

(can a deck be fully varnished and seam-caulked in a month? I think that is my critical path right now... I have most of the mechanicals in, and have wired most of the electrical circuits. (I am still afraid to hook up the starter circuit, and puzzling about the charging circuit). After that, I'll just need to rig up the fuel line, and finish my transmission controls (neutral safety, and reverse safety))

I just put on (what I truly truly hope) is my last few epoxy patches.

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Bruce:

Please...PLEASE./...do not rush it on our account !!

It is much more important to us that you do a great job. You will only regret anything you attempt to rush.

Here is my idea :

Complete the things you actually know that you have to complete to put that sucker in the water and make it run. Leave all the time consuming, gussied up, pretty stuff for when you get back so you can really spend the time on it to do it well ...we certainly understand !!


Steve


PS..If you were any kind of freaking Yankee you would have been done two months ago...but I digress...