Remember how yesterday I expressed surprise that after coating the cloth, it was textured rather than smooth? Well, I guess I should have done a bit better job of reading ahead in the instructions. I mentioned that today I was going to put on the keel reinforcement “tape”. Well, it turns out that you roller on a “fill coat” of epoxy over the whole hull, and then put the tape on and stick it down with more epoxy. And then when that all dries (tomorrow, it appears), you do another fill coat. So I guess it ends up smooth after all.
The instructions just say to
roll on a coat of epoxy over the entire hull to fill the weave of the cloth. (Do not squeegee fill coats.)
but when I do that, I ended up with bubbles and foam, so I went over the coat with a paint brush to smooth it out. Once again, I wish the instructions had mentioned things like this.
Then I put on the keel tape, and wet it down and stuck it down with the paint brush. That went relatively straight forwardly.
Then I went around the boat again with the paint brush and painted out bubbles and drips from the keel tape. Until I find my real camera, there is no way you could see any difference between today and yesterday with the cell phone camera, so I didn’t bother.
Tomorrow I do another fill coat. Then it’s time to start the deck panels. And maybe I’ll have a few days without sticky hands.