TOPIC: Interesting observation re fairing

I am in the arduous process of filling and fairing the Glastron hardtop after removing the gel coat. I also had a couple of repairs to do. I had some extra resin mixed from a repair so I just brushed it on across part of the top. When I filled and faired that section, I got as good or better result using a lot less material and it was a lot easier. Anybody run into this? I am thinking I should brush a thin layer of resin on the whole top before I continue.

What kind of resin? If it's poly you can't just use the resin without glass. It will crack. If it's epoxy then...no problemo!!

The resin is vinylester. It's a thin layer on top of the existing fiberglass surface (not a structural repair). My thought is that it would be no worse that a single layer of gel coat.

Actually it is far different than gelcoat and it's not recommended to be used by itself. It's always recommended to be used with some sort of mat or cloth. This will help clarify some things...

www.quigs.org/Farrier/resins.html

When I'm fairing the last 'bits' out, I do something similar. I use epoxy resin thickened just a bit with fairing filler mix. I lay down a thin coat, then go over it with a wide plastic spreader. It really does a great job of filling the small imperfections that seem to always be lurking!

It sands down really nicely, too. I have found that its much easier to prime first, so the boat is a nice uniform color, then do the fairing. The dark color of the filler will really stand out, check my lake n sea thread in the member projects section to see what I mean. Just remember to make sure that the primer is compatible with the filler OVER it, not all of them will allow good adhesion. I "borrowed" this technique from car restoration guys- its common practice to epoxy prime the bare metal, then do all the filling and fairing, then do the build primer coats.

-Andrew