Sanded and ready, it was time to glass the hull.
I used 4oz fiberglass cloth that came with the kit. 4oz means four ounces weight per square yard. I used about 15′ of cloth 50″ wide. That piece, before trimming, weighed how much? Anyone? Anyone?
Fiberglass cloth comes in all kinds of weights and weaves. Yes weaves. It’s kind of boring but it’s important that the kit provides the type of cross-woven fabric that among other things, is easy to stretch and conform to the shape of the boat.
I rolled the cloth out on the hull. Then instead of trying to fit it with my hands, I used a brush. The cloth can easily catch on rough hands so the brush helps gently stretch the cloth around the curves and down the sides.
When doing large areas, I mix a cup full of epoxy (MAS non-blushing slow cure) and actually pour the epoxy right onto the wood. Since this is an “embed” coat and I’m only trying to saturate the cloth and the wood, I use a squeegee to spread the epoxy evenly. You can tell when the cloth is filled properly by the appearance and the sound of the squeegee. Think rubbing your fingernails on a window screen. Add it kind of looks like that too.
I’m not tying to fill the cloth just get it epoxied to the hull. More coats will fill the weave later.
