This week I trimmed the deck flush to the sides of the hull. Looks OK. Not too many waves and such. It's not perfect, but when it's all finished you'll hardly notice. It did leave a bare-wood edge though that needed to be taken care of.
On my T37 I began my finishing with a few coats of Interlux epoxy filler (Primekote 404/414) because it was bare wood. The T37's do not have a layer of fiberglass on the outside so you need to fill the grain if you want a really smooth finish.
The Star 45 does have fiberglass on the outside of the hull, therefore no wood grain to fill. However I decided to put a single thick coat on anyway. It will help with filling some dips and such, and should fill some of the larger scratches as well. It's easy to sand and when I work it down with finer and finer papers it should leave an almost plastic-like surface with no scratches. It certainly doesn't hurt to do it and only adds an extra day or two to the finishing process. Besides, I have lots of Primekote left and hate to not use it.
The best reason though for me to use the Primekote is to seal the edge of the deck plywood that was exposed when I trimmed the deck. After it had dried for an hour or so it was obvious that the epoxy filler was soaking into the edge. The seam was also more exposed. There was still plenty of mixed filler in the cup so I added another layer just to the edge. I'll repeat as necessary to fully hide the edge. Will let it cure for 24 hours and then sand it all smooth.
On my T37 I began my finishing with a few coats of Interlux epoxy filler (Primekote 404/414) because it was bare wood. The T37's do not have a layer of fiberglass on the outside so you need to fill the grain if you want a really smooth finish.
The Star 45 does have fiberglass on the outside of the hull, therefore no wood grain to fill. However I decided to put a single thick coat on anyway. It will help with filling some dips and such, and should fill some of the larger scratches as well. It's easy to sand and when I work it down with finer and finer papers it should leave an almost plastic-like surface with no scratches. It certainly doesn't hurt to do it and only adds an extra day or two to the finishing process. Besides, I have lots of Primekote left and hate to not use it.
The best reason though for me to use the Primekote is to seal the edge of the deck plywood that was exposed when I trimmed the deck. After it had dried for an hour or so it was obvious that the epoxy filler was soaking into the edge. The seam was also more exposed. There was still plenty of mixed filler in the cup so I added another layer just to the edge. I'll repeat as necessary to fully hide the edge. Will let it cure for 24 hours and then sand it all smooth.
Did the keel and rudder too.
In the end, most of the filler will be sanded off. Before I paint you'll see that it really just looks like I wiped some paint on and then off the boat. But what it does is leave a smooth surface that the paint adheres to quite well.
More tomorrow!
Peace!
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