Sealing your faired hull....

[Roly]

I am currently buying materials to get my hull to the turn-over stage.
(Edge glued,strip-planked, 640gm/m2 epoxy/glassed over)
We have blasted the gloss off it and are preparing to fair.

Once faired is there an advantage using something like "interprotect" to seal the final faired hull? Or, is ordinary epoxy suitable. How many coats is standard?
Cheers.

[mastcolin]

speak with International/epiglass or Awlgrip if you're using ready mixed fillers but from what I remember they always recommended a thin coat of primer on the mat/epoxy before filling with their products.

I think it was in main as they knew their filler stuck to the primer whereas the resin layer may be greasy (amine sweaty) in pinholes/low areas if sanded..or indeed glass.

You only need 1 thin coat (50microns dft or so).

That said, I know builders/painters who just made 1st filler layer a relatively wet mix (they used mix your own filler) and filled direct onto peel plyed epoxy (the peel ply stripped off, of course!)

Benefits of painting once glassed is that it shows up any dry areas as pinholes -open weave in extreme cases, and it seals it if you are taking break before filling

[Roly]

Cheers.
I guess the first coat, wet, would suit our purpose. (Application of fairing compound) Skips a step.

Rather, my question related to the faired compound, pre painting to seal the
filler rich epoxy. (topside paint and below waterline paint).

Interprotect is more expensive than ordinary epoxy but is it any better for this purpose?

[catmando2]

TRy Ameron coatings, an industrial coating well respected in the Australian and New Zealand boating industrie and much more economical than Awl-grip or Sterling.

Dave