The hot coat cured overnight and looks... ok... although it will clearly need a pretty good sanding. Hopefully the gloss coat I'll add next week will go on better. This morning I took a bowl of hot water and a clean rag and wiped down the epoxy to help get rid of any amine blush that might have risen. It looked like there was a little and I'll probably do it again later before sanding. I intend to only sand the rail edges for now to prepare to glass the bottom and will let the deck cure fully for the next few days. Then I'll sand the entire board, top and bottom, later this week. Fully cured epoxy sands SO much easier than 'mostly' cured. Today though, I drilled holes in the board! One for the vent and one for the leash cup thing. This picture below is cockeyed and makes the holes look off-center to each other but they're actually pretty well aligned. I had already drilled a vent hole before even gluing down the deck and then have kept the hole open w...
The fiberglassing has begun! It's always a thrill to see the rich colors emerge when the epoxy hits the glass. I started by running blue tape along the seam of the bottom panel. I propped up the edges with bits of shavings. Having the edges of the tape hang down instead of adhering to the board allows excess epoxy to run off and not accumulate on the other side. Once turned over, as in the picture below, you can see how the tape allows for drips to fall off. Here is the fiberglass laid out and trimmed. I added slits to the nose and tail where the cloth would have a hard time conforming to the curves. And here's how it looks after the "Lam coat" (Lamination coat). I started at the nose and spread epoxy over the first third of the board with my spreader. I then worked it out to the edges on both sides, and then over and under the rails. Then I went back and squeegeed off...