What's the best way to fair 1708??

[KnottyBuoyz]

If you can follow this sequence of photos you'll see a variation on the knotched trowel theme on a larger scale.

[the1much]

coolz link,,, thanks

[Jimbo1490]

This is really more of a 'surfacing' job rather than a 'fairing' job since the main issue is the rough texture of the 1708 cloth rather than waviness, dents and the like. My experience with rough texture fiberglass is that it always tries to 'print though' after fairing/painting. Fairing compound, even the good epoxy ones like Awl-Fair don't always stop the print through. It might be a good idea to put on a layer of some finish glass first then do the final smoothing on that. Like Thomas said, just about any light cloth will be better than 1708 texture. I'm partial to the satin weaves since they have nice drape, easy wet-out and unlike the finer grades of mat (like surfacing veil) they hold together well when you work with them. Very fine mat has the most resistance to print through, bu mat is a PITA to work with, IMO.

Jimbo

[mongo75]

WOW- that is a lotof work! However, now that I fully unerstand what everyone has been trying to beat into my head I can see (especially with the link-thanks Rick!) that all the work is definitely worth it, seeing as how I plan on keeping this boat for a while. Thanks again everyone for helping me through another area of this restoration.

One more question- what do you think would be the best filler to use? Up to this point I've been using milled fibers and cabosil, but that's mostly to make a thick bonding paste/filler. For sanding this much area 308 sq feet- would I be better of using q-cells, or microballons or ????

[KnottyBuoyz]

Personally I don't know which would be the best filler for making your own fairing compound but I'd guess that the lighter the better. You're already adding quite a bit of weight to the flybridge. Microbaloons should be the lightest and one of the easier ones to sand. My only experience with fillers, as you noted was for bonding, is wood flour.

[fiberglass jack]

if you make up a paste or use a premade filler here is what i would do, I always do things the lazy way. 1 place the mud over the glass and level with a 4 or 6 inch plastic squege once you have a area done place a sheet of mylar over and then with a clean squege rub the mylar smooth, once dry peel the mylar off and a light sand your good to go. you will have to cut the mylar and test fit first remember to leave your overlaps high so you got some thing to sand down, you will want to give the hull a light sand then spray some high build primer

[alan white]

I recommend West System #410 microlight because it stretches epoxy so far.
It also feathers beautifully, so it's all you need for the whole job.
Others may have their favorites, or reasons why my choice isn't the best, but I know at least that microlight works well, and any detractor would be cost and not quality.


Alan

[mongo75]

Jack I like that idea and I've seen it somewhere online where they do that with some .030 plasitc sheet, but I cna try a small area with some thick tarping I have, just to see if it works with what I got.

Alan, I'll likewise look into the West microlite. For the same reason you mentioned (COST$$$$) I'm not a fan of he West System, but it's definitely worth looking into. I've found that you can do the same high quality job without bending over and taking it from Worst Marine....