RickW Ph18

[Rrick411]

Congratulations ! Working solo it took me 4 days to glass the bottom - 2 days for tapes, then half hull glassed, then the other half...

I can see the chore it had to be.

[Rrick411]

Another question? I have a few voids. Do i grind out and fill them before I start sanding? That seems like the correct process.

[TomW1]

Yes

[Rrick411]

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I fell like I am taking to much material off trying to get this glass smooth. Using a Bosch 6 inch orbital on orbit not turbo, 40 gritt paper. How smooth am I looking to get? Is 40 too aggressive? Thanks

[Rrick411]

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[Reid]

RickW,

You should not be sanding into the biaxial fiberglass. If you sand down and cut into the fiberglass, you are compromising the integrity of the glass. The biaxial cloth has a cotton fiber that sits proud of the fiberglass. This cotton fiber is used as a guide for fairing. You need to fair up to the level of the cotton fiber and then sand the fairing compound smooth.

-Reid

[Rrick411]

RickW,

You should not be sanding into the biaxial fiberglass. If you sand down and cut into the fiberglass, you are compromising the integrity of the glass. The biaxial cloth has a cotton fiber that sits proud of the fiberglass. This cotton fiber is used as a guide for fairing. You need to fair up to the level of the cotton fiber and then sand the fairing compound smooth.

-Reid

Thank you Reid, I stopped sanding as I noticed I was getting into the fibers. I do see the cotton. Just to confirm, There are square indentions between the directional fibers, The fairing will fill those? I'm not looking to sand real smooth. I was thinking I may not have put enough resin to fill or fully wet out as the resin sits lower than the top of the fiber strands.

[Reid]

RickW,

A common mistake I see a lot of builders make is thinking they need to sand the fiberglass smooth prior to fairing. Another mistake is using straight epoxy to fill the weave from the biaxial cloth. This adds unnecessary weight and adds cost to the project. The goal of a good lamination is to shoot for the highest fiberglass percentage one can get without leaving the fiberglass starved for epoxy. At the end result of a good lamination you should be able to feel the texture of the cloth. If the lamination feels like an ice skating rink then the lamination has too much epoxy.
Going forward to fairing, the texture left from the biaxial fiberglass is the "tooth" that allows the fairing compound to make a mechanical bond. Fairing will fill in all those void spaces. I recommend fairing in a few thin coats as apposed to one really thick coat. As I said earlier, use the cotton fiber as a guide.

-Reid

[Rrick411]

RickW,

A common mistake I see a lot of builders make is thinking they need to sand the fiberglass smooth prior to fairing. Another mistake is using straight epoxy to fill the weave from the biaxial cloth. This adds unnecessary weight and adds cost to the project. The goal of a good lamination is to shoot for the highest fiberglass percentage one can get without leaving the fiberglass starved for epoxy. At the end result of a good lamination you should be able to feel the texture of the cloth. If the lamination feels like an ice skating rink then the lamination has too much epoxy.
Going forward to fairing, the texture left from the biaxial fiberglass is the "tooth" that allows the fairing compound to make a mechanical bond. Fairing will fill in all those void spaces. I recommend fairing in a few thin coats as apposed to one really thick coat. As I said earlier, use the cotton fiber as a guide.

-Reid

Thank you Sir! Excellent guidance. I do appreciate it. And yes, I was thinking about, contemplating, some of those mistakes! LMAO

[Dougster]

40 grit would be too much for me. I used 80 and 60 now and then. Really the 80 with my RO seems pretty potent.

Dougster