Still Fairing!

Not much to post... I have been spending the last 2 weekends fairing.  On my last post, I showed a couple of pictures of my spot applied fairing mix.  Unfortunately, I did not add enough catalyzer and the mix did not fully harden.  When I tried to sand it off, the mix gummed up the sandpaper.  I had read that if you spray with soapy water, the resin would not adheare to the sandpaper.  It worked, but what a mess.  Since the actual defect areas were small and this is not a structural issue, the fairing that remained was mostly okay.  I have now placed another coat of primer and will take one more stab at any remaining defects.   I will concentrate on the areas that will not be covered with non-skid.  The non-skid should cover any of the minor defects remaining.  Trust me, at this point they are barely noticable now.

Look ahead.

My plan is to apply a 2-part Interlux paint to the raised cabin top and stern extension first part of April.  I will then dry fit the new windows and start working my way down.  I will permenately bed them in, once I am ready to apply the vinyl wall covering I purchased to go on the inside. 

I have also decided to remove the existing windows, paint the aluminum trim black to match the new windows, rebed the glass and reinstall after the surrounding area is painted. 

My new trampoline net came in last week.  That will likely be one of the last things to get installed.  My boat arch is being fabricated now, but I would like to get the stern extension painted prior to installation.  Hopefully my next update will include some pictures of my painted raised cabin top!  Stay tuned.

Fairing and Priming and Fairing and....

The hard part about doing something for the first time is not knowing if you are doing it right or not?  When I created molds for my various fiberglass parts, I thought I would have cruised right through to the priming and painting.  Not so much.  Even those parts have put me through my paces in trying to get them smooth as silk.  Ok, I will settle for just smooth!

Last week I decided to put a prime coat on the various newly created fiberglass parts.  I knew I was not ready for paint, but I figured the prime coat would help me see the remaining "defects".   The literature for the Interlux PrimeKote, which is a 2-part epoxy primer espoused about its ability to fill in minor imperfections.  Cool!

For my first go at this, I added 25% 2333N reducing agent as suggested.  Well it actually read "up to" 25%.  The result seemed to be a little to thin.  Oh well just put it on and go from there.

I used a foam roller.

Here are the lids for the aft extension.

Here is a close up.  You can see lots of pin holes and a wavy surface.  Not so good!

After it dried, I sanded it down.  Hmm not sure if this is good or bad.  At least the valleys are filled??

My next application, I decided I would try a thicker coat of primer and only added about half of the 2333N reducing agent.  I also used a nappier roller cover in an attempt to lay down a thicker coat.

Here is the result after the next sanding.

Still not good.  I can see dimpling and other defects even though I filled more valleys.

Here is a close up after the third coat.  Imperfections are still visible.  Ugh.

This is a close up of another lid that looked better, but still can see imperfections.   So much for my hope of a miracle primer!

Only one thing to do.  More fairing.  The mix I used flowed quite nice.  I did not add cabosil this time, which may have helped.

Here is the rest of the boat, which incidentally went through at least 2 prime coats as well.  With daylight savings time, I may have time to start sanding after work and hopefully I can add one more coat of primer.  One can hope!

Here is the rest of the boat before I started fairing.  Not bad from this distance!