Cleaning up sloppy fillets.

[OrangeQuest]

With the heat we are having and only ordering medium and fast hardeners some of my fillets have been a little sloppy which most the time I just sand them enough to cover with tape and not have an air pocket but the baitwells and other areas that can been seen, already putting murals in the bait well for the bait to enjoy before they have to go to work, so the last thing I want is the bait fish to thing I did sloppy work. But I am finding it difficult to get a smooth, consistent fillet. Short of spending countless hours with sheet sandpaper wrapped around different diameter tubes and my little drum sanders wearing the edge off from having to angle the drill so far. I remembered a video of a master boat repair guy using a mini belt sander to get the very smooth and consistent. The one he was using was close to $500.00 and thought that I will not get that in the budget!

I found one on sale on a body shop tool supply that was less than $40.00. So I ordered it along with extra 120 grit belts. If it holds up I should get some really good looking fillets. How many of you guys use them and any tips or tricks you care to share?

[thb]

I have sloppy fillets also but most all of mine are hidden behind structure. For $40 you cant go wrong. I have a sears low profile belt sander that is very thin at the nose which could be used. Cleaning up messes is the name of the game. Get some slow hardener or tropical hardener for use when doing fillets is another option.

Regards
Tom

[terrulian]

I spent countless hours on this problem. Jacques and others kept telling me that brushing the fillet with clear epoxy would result in a surface that needed no sanding, but I never could get this to solve the problem. Even if it did work, you've still got those pesky corners which are the worst of it.

My guess is that that belt sander is not going to work miracles because there is the issue of controlling it and not doing more damage. The only power tool I found helpful was the sanding pad on a multi-tool but in the end I mainly used my finger and a piece of sandpaper. One little tip that did help a lot was to utilize the used sandpaper from your orbital or multi-tool because they have a thicker backing than normal paper and will form a better radius. I learned that on this forum, probably from ks8. Let us know if you find a better way.

[fallguy1000]

Your fillets should never be rough man !!!

NEVER.

Use strictly cabosil for the smoothest fillets AND mix the stuff first in a buck and then on a board and mix about 2.5 to 1 cab to epoxy by volume. Pile it up in the middle and if it slumps down; flatten it all out and add a salt shaker layer of cabosil over and mix using a bulldozer method, repeat if needed.

IF you want a more structural fillet add a desired amount of milled glass.


If you need a more sandable fillet or radius filling especially, use 50/50 microballoons.


If you can't make a smooth fillet with fast epoxy, then switch to slower.

I use a 1 1/4" washer on a big long stick for most of my work. My fillets are a little big to be honest and I need to build a 1" stick as I use too much epoxy this way.

If you have a problem with the fillets getting a hump in them. Use some 36 grit floor sanding paper you can buy from Home Depot to clean them up, but that is only humpy spots.

Best of luck.

[Jaysen]

As far as smoothing an already set fillet, kids are amazing. The whine a lot but... much like tony it was just elbow grease.

Unlike tony I found the neat “topcoat” to eliminate most of my sanding. I used a rounded stick or cut plastic putty knife (FallGuy’s method is probably better) and run the fillet in one big move. Don’t touch it again. Let it set for a minute or two. Use a chip brush to put a reasonable amount of neat epoxy on it. If you’re glassing the fillet, add neat to the entire are that will be glass and once the neat gets tacky lay the glass.

Once o figures that out there was much less sand.

[terrulian]

There are two different stages being described here. One is the fillet that you produce to seat the glass, which goes under the glass. It is no problem to get these satisfactorily smooth. My difficulty was in the fairing stage where each fillet wants to be perfect. If you guys have an easy way to do this, especially counting corners, I haven't seen it on this forum. I'd have to see a video; otherwise, Jaysen's correct, it's elbow grease.
Check all the areas here where one panel meets another.
Each little corner took quite a few passes to get right. I'd be most beholden to someone who could teach me an easy way, honest. I don't doubt that with years of practice it could be done fairly quickly but to me it's very much like body work on a car. Something that would take a pro a couple of hours takes me a couple of days.

[Jaysen]

T, are talking about fairing the seams for prettification? If so... I’m out. I’m the “ugly but floating is good” type.

Pretty is the wife’s job. And she’s a pro at it.

[jacquesmm]

T, are talking about fairing the seams for prettification? If so... I’m out. I’m the “ugly but floating is good” type.

Pretty is the wife’s job. And she’s a pro at it.

That's the way I build my boats. I use your brushing technique but that's all:

run the fillet in one big move. Don’t touch it again. Let it set for a minute or two. Use a chip brush to put a reasonable amount of neat epoxy on it.

Terrulian's fillets area work of art but I don't have his patience.

[Jaysen]

T, are talking about fairing the seams for prettification? If so... I’m out. I’m the “ugly but floating is good” type.

Pretty is the wife’s job. And she’s a pro at it.

That's the way I build my boats. I use your brushing technique but that's all:

run the fillet in one big move. Don’t touch it again. Let it set for a minute or two. Use a chip brush to put a reasonable amount of neat epoxy on it.

Terrulian's fillets area work of art but I don't have his patience.

JM, while I didn’t cut and paste this, it is the exact advice you gave me when building Lil Bit. Really it’s your technique.

[OrangeQuest]

There are two different stages being described here. One is the fillet that you produce to seat the glass, which goes under the glass. It is no problem to get these satisfactorily smooth. My difficulty was in the fairing stage where each fillet wants to be perfect. If you guys have an easy way to do this, especially counting corners, I haven't seen it on this forum. I'd have to see a video; otherwise, Jaysen's correct, it's elbow grease.
Check all the areas here where one panel meets another.
Each little corner took quite a few passes to get right. I'd be most beholden to someone who could teach me an easy way, honest. I don't doubt that with years of practice it could be done fairly quickly but to me it's very much like body work on a car. Something that would take a pro a couple of hours takes me a couple of days.

Really nice Terrulian!! That is what I would like with out the elbow grease or less elbow grease.