The two fill coats that I rolled on the deck two days ago was cured enough tonight for me to sand it. All of the little rises and dips of the fill coats easily flattened out.
TIP: Don't try to use each disk too long. As soon as it starts to gum up it will only heat the epoxy and soften it so that it gets even more gummy and smears. Change the paper often! ELEVEN disks were used until I ran out of sanding disks so I'll need to finish it tomorrow. Carefully watch your work. When it's new a disk will cut and flatten well, but it will only last 5-10 minutes or so. When it starts to take up some gummed epoxy you will notice that it quickly stops cutting well.
On the flat areas I was able to use 100 grit paper without cutting too much into the cloth, although you can see that in a few the cloth is visible. Be very, VERY careful if you use 100 or 150 grit paper!! It can take down the epoxy quickly and you risk cutting into the cloth too much. In other areas I used 220.
TIP: Keep your random orbital sander FLAT on all the panels! The seams look very dark because they were NOT sanded. I will carefully and gently hand sand the seams later.
In the picture below you can still see some shiny areas. Those will all be hit with the sander again. The recessed deck plate is always a challenge and I'll hand sand it.
In the picture below you can see that the #4 side panels have not been sanded yet and are still shiny. The sides and bottom will be sanded later.
Eleven disks... for just the deck panels! But you can't worry about that. Spend the few extra dollars and keep using fresh ones. You can see in a few of them that the epoxy got too gummed up with little white dots. I used those disks too long and should have changed it out earlier.
Tomorrow I'm off to the hardware store for more paper and then back home for more sanding. And this is only the deck! I still need to sand the hull again (I put another fill coat of epoxy on it too).
Aloha!
TIP: Don't try to use each disk too long. As soon as it starts to gum up it will only heat the epoxy and soften it so that it gets even more gummy and smears. Change the paper often! ELEVEN disks were used until I ran out of sanding disks so I'll need to finish it tomorrow. Carefully watch your work. When it's new a disk will cut and flatten well, but it will only last 5-10 minutes or so. When it starts to take up some gummed epoxy you will notice that it quickly stops cutting well.
On the flat areas I was able to use 100 grit paper without cutting too much into the cloth, although you can see that in a few the cloth is visible. Be very, VERY careful if you use 100 or 150 grit paper!! It can take down the epoxy quickly and you risk cutting into the cloth too much. In other areas I used 220.
TIP: Keep your random orbital sander FLAT on all the panels! The seams look very dark because they were NOT sanded. I will carefully and gently hand sand the seams later.
In the picture below you can still see some shiny areas. Those will all be hit with the sander again. The recessed deck plate is always a challenge and I'll hand sand it.
In the picture below you can see that the #4 side panels have not been sanded yet and are still shiny. The sides and bottom will be sanded later.
Eleven disks... for just the deck panels! But you can't worry about that. Spend the few extra dollars and keep using fresh ones. You can see in a few of them that the epoxy got too gummed up with little white dots. I used those disks too long and should have changed it out earlier.
Tomorrow I'm off to the hardware store for more paper and then back home for more sanding. And this is only the deck! I still need to sand the hull again (I put another fill coat of epoxy on it too).
Aloha!
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