Polyester fabric

[Jaysen]

Crap paint and/or bad surface prep will get those results. Spend the dollars and the time, do touch up and repairs when needed. Good quality paint will last longer than bottom paint.

[Walter Thom]

I will spend the $$$ and do as you say.
Thanks
Wally

[Jeff]

Wally, I sent you an email this morning. Call Reid on Monday to discuss paint. He is off today. Call us at 772.742.8535. Thank you, Jeff

[Walter Thom]

Jaysen

You said you used Quantum and S2 Primer and that you did crap for prep (just wash) and it covered all your sins... does that mean you didn't use micro-balloons to get a fair and smooth hull and just prime over an unsanded hull before priming?

So, which was it that covered all your sins, the S3 Primer, the Quantum or a combination of both? This will be primarily a fishing/hunting and just messing about rig. I'm not worried about getting that show winning finish but, I would like it to look nice enough to prevent me from being heckled by onlookers on a dark, foggy moonless night.

You have to understand that this will be my very first wood/fiberglass boat and absolutely no knowledge of how any of this works so... when I ask a question it's because I have no idea what the answer is.

Do you have to sand the entire area of a fiberglass covered hull if it is applied well and as smooth as possible. I do understand that I will have to knock down the obvious high points but... I see some people use something called peel ply. Does that take care of the need to sand the entire boat? I am a lazy turd too but I will do what is necessary.

I haven't bought the plans or supplies yet but, this is going to happen. I am gathering info and knowledge for the project so I know what I am getting myself into.
Thanks
Wally

[Jaysen]

You must fair the hull to some degree. Fairing makes the hull efficient-ish in the water (primary) and creates pretty surface for finish (secondary).

The build process is simple (this is small boat)
1. Base construction: cut, tie, glue tape. Here you have a boat shaped thing that is “squared” relative to its lines with even curves but has major surface defects and likely insufficient structural reinforcement.
2. Reinforcement and glass: here you are adding structural ties like frames, bulkheads, stringers as well as adding layers of glass. At the end of this you have a sound hull that has many surface imperfections, is hydrodynamically evil and isnt comfortable.
3. Finish structure and fairing: here you balance the order between putting non structural components on the hull and making the hull “perfect” (where perfect is the enemy of done) from a hydro and paint perspective. This is silica/ballon application and sanding land. The thing is that SOME non structural parts need to be under faring and some over. So you get to figure that out. Fairing isn’t only for the OUTSIDE of the hull. It also can be used inside to help make smooth surfaces (think drywall compound).
4. Finish: painting and pimping the ride time! Get your paint, chrome, electrical, motor etc done.
5. Launch. Self explanatory I hope.

Now the problem is “what if I have a big, heavy hull?” Well, now you start sticking steps 3 and 4 up into 1 and 2. I think most boats in the 16+ range will have you fair and paint the hull before you flip it to install frames. And that’s ok. Big hulls need to reduce the number of flips. Imagine rolling a TW28 6 times like I did with my V12!

To your actual question. You must do some fairing. But you don’t have to be perfect. A short list of my sins… I sanded to 80g and these days rarely past 60g. Since my boat get smashed on oysters and concrete I know it will always have dings (she’s slow too) so I’m not going for perfect smooth. I’ll accept 1/16” gouges in the surface. I didn’t fill the interior glass weave all that well… or at all.

The S3 primer just acts like any other primer. But it is thin enough that crappy surface prep is acceptable. It will flow into all the lines, gouges, etc that you leave behind. It will not bridge pinholes well.

EMC/Quantum is the same. BUT, what I discovered, is that if you can increase the viscosity by reducing the thinning agent you magically get a better finish than you deserve! And this isn’t magic, it’s on the side of my can! “Reducing thinning agent will allow for improved covering of surface imperfections” (or something like that, the can is a couple hundred miles away right now). So I cheated on the fairing/sanding but got a much much better quality finish.

So to recap:
1. You gotta fair and sand.
2. You’ll do a lot more than you planned but plan on 3x what you want to to.
3. Focus on the structural hold accuracy (square) more then perfect fairing.
4. Good paint properly manipulated makes up for some laziness in the fairing/sanding.

[Dougster]

Also, Quickfair was an easy product for me as a first time builder to use. I sanded the glass (didn't use peelply) with 80 grit, then smeared Quickfair over it and sanded again with 80 grit. I did start mixing my own fairing mix after a bit, but Quickfair teaches you what works. You'll see when you get there.

Dougster

[Walter Thom]

Super!
Thanks guy this helps a lot. It looks like I am going to open a pretty big can of worms here.
Wally

[Jaysen]

It’s not that bad. It’s just another building project. Unlike building a house or remodeling, it’s easy to get distracted (funds reallocated, time commitments pop up, spouse/kids, etc) and the “3-4 months” turns into years. I know you’re not building a BBC/Martens-Goosen plan but non of this is hard. The only super technical bit is finishing and dealing with the government to get your numbers. Other than that, idiots like me can do it successfully.

Keys to success:
1. Take your time.
2. Ask questions.
3. Go back to #1.
4. Keep your work space clean.
5. Don’t reuse consumables.
6. Back to #1
7. Slow down and enjoy building a boat.