Tom's FS14

[thb]

Here is picture from many months ago when fairing and sanding.


This was taken before 6 oz cloth was put on top to seal off the kevlar.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

[gstanfield]

She's looking good Tom. I'd suggest getting the bottom pretty nice, but no need for perfect. Get it smooth, with sharp corners and let the graphite do the rest

[thb]

George,
Here are a few pictures after yesterday's sanding. Alot more to do on the sides where I used tinted white epoxy for the second coat over the 6 oz cloth.

Bottom is pretty much good nuff.



In several of these pictures you can see the sharpened chines for the aft 4-1/2 ft which is the planing surface, I guessed.



Getting a lot closer though and will be ready for primer on the sides after a few more hours.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

[gstanfield]

Looks good to me, at least from what I can tell. It's aweful hard to do any final finish work without a coat of primer on it so you can see everything in the same color. I'd go ahead and primer it, spray a very light guide coat on it and sand from there. You may see it and declare it good enough or it may bug you enough that you sand some more

[thb]

George,
Maybe your right. Go ahead and put primer on the bottom and see how she looks then. I have the system 3 two part high build primer so the epoxy/graphite will be ok over it, right???

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

[gstanfield]

I see no reason why the epoxy/graphite would cause issue when used on top of an epoxy primer. I had asked that question about two years ago and was told that as long as it was a two part epoxy primer there was no reason for it to be of concern.

[Uncle D]

Tom, very good on your lift set-up. I wonder if you could have used washers or such as rollers on the U-bolts to make that strap slide better. Just thinking out loud.

"I see no reason why the epoxy/graphite would cause issue when used on top of an epoxy primer. I had asked that question about two years ago and was told that as long as it was a two part epoxy primer there was no reason for it to be of concern."

Just got off the phone with Joel on that very subject. Go for it.

Don

[thb]

Don and George,

Thanks for the inputs. That is what I like about this forum. Great inputs and ideas.

I really like the washer idea on the u-bolts. Can put 10 to 20 washers on each u-bolt with some molly grease and she should rotate nicely. Will try it out in several weeks when flip back time arrives and post results.

I thought I had read somewhere that it was OK to put epoxy/graphite on top of 2 part epoxy primer. I just can not remember some details like I could 20 years ago, so thanks to you both for the input.

Time for more sanding, OH BOY and then some primer on sides and bottom.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

[thb]

Put down one thick layer of system 3 high build primer on the bottom and down over the chines by 6 inches or so on the weekend. Did a lot more sanding of the sides after the 6oz cloth was laid down with 2 coats of epoxy on top.

Primer was good and dry after 2 days so sanded the bottom and sides some more. Was satisfied with the fair and smoothness of the bottom so yesterday went to work with the epoxy/graphite. Mixed up 24 oz of epoxy with about 6 oz of graphite. Mixed the graphite in to the liquid in three stages. Rolled the mixture on with a west system foam roller. Did the area around the keel with a chip brush.




Got lots of little air bubbles/ bumps on the area which was rolled on. You can see this in the above photos. Of course I did not sift the graphite thru a flour sifter as I can't remember it doing this previously.

Will hit it a lick with the sander to knock down the spots and go for second coat this afternoon. Will use the vacuum festool sander for this job as that black dust is a pain.

Will do at least 2 coats and maybe three. What is everyone's preference, 2 or 3 coats???

The first coat was laid down pretty thick as I used all of the 24 oz of epoxy. Was thinking of using 18 oz for the next coat so it will be thinner.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

[Mad Dog]

Most of the guys applying graphite have at least three coats. I got similar results as you on the first coat. I managed to talk SWMBO into tipping behind me as I rolled on the second and third coat. The results were much better. Definitely use the vacuum sander. The graphite dust is a pain to clean up.

MD