mtompson

Member

From: Dartmouth UK

Registered: 23 Apr 2013

Posts: 28

When to stop sanding!

Just how worried do I need to be getting the hull ready for undercoating? I just keep sanding, there are always little small ridges of epoxy ( from the squeegee ) and a few patches of orange peel. These are all very slight, and just catch the light, and can be just felt under hand.

I'm down to 180 or 230 paper, and I'm still using my cabinet scraper.

I will keep going and I'm being careful not to break through to fibreglass or bare wood... But, I wondered how good undercoat ( for starters ) is at filling minor marks, do people add anything to the undercoat? Any super 'fill all' wonder products out there?

Any other tips would be great.

Many thanks

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Building a Skerry

wilddog

Member

From: Devon

Registered: 22 Dec 2013

Posts: 143

Re: When to stop sanding!

Mark,

Clearly absolute perfection is a baseline standard for any self-respecting Devon-based Skerry builder...in theory at least...but I asked a similar "how much sanding should I do" question to a knowledgeable boaty mate the other day and his reply was 'well of course if you were setting up the boat to race, you'd obsess about each tiny detail and try and fair out any imperfection...but you're not, so just do the best you can and get the damn thing in the water'. Frankly I think this is pretty sound advice.

I should think a layer of primer, followed by another rub down will help even out any bumps and hollows and if there is the odd spot that you are REALLY not happy with some localised filling with some silica thickened goop may be the thing.

All that said, the skerry has such a sleek profile and such a shallow, planing draft that I am pretty sure she will fly through the water even with the odd  squeegee mark in her hull. Oddly of course, if she were a house, you'd pay a fortune for that sort of quirky detail - "oh look dear wonky stairs - how quaint".

Of course if it proves to be too much, you can always sand her down and slather on another layer of goop on next winter and repaint her...

Andy

Last edited by wilddog (6 Apr 2014 4:25 pm)

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Built a Skerry!

mtompson

Member

From: Dartmouth UK

Registered: 23 Apr 2013

Posts: 28

Re: When to stop sanding!

Wise words, I'll do a little bit more and then move on....

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Building a Skerry