Robert,
Thanks for the idea.
One of the issues that we are always fighting is the different sanding rates
cause by various fillers and epoxy verses the cedar itself. Most of our
really serious final faring is done after the hull bottom is glassed. The
water
contact surfaces are coated with either epoxy/graphite powder or colored two
part linear. In both cases, this is usually done after using some fairing
filler over any low spots in the glassed hull finish. I only point this out
because I believe you are talking about final perfection and to get too
involved in that before glassing may not be the best use of time.
It is a bit of a question regarding where or if you should get really
serious with fairing or fairing / smoothness (1200 grit) to the extreme. I
suspect
that 10 years from now we will really be spending some time getting them
perfect. I currently have one boat from VMG that has the most perfect bottom
I've even seen (on a boat) and since it has been sailed only a few times, we
have determined if it matters that much (probably will be too many other
variables to tell for several years yet). That boat is just now being sold.
Thanks again for the idea and input. Let me know when you want to give a
Swift a shot. Where are you located?
Best regards,
Bram
In a message dated 1/5/2006 5:52:06 AM Pacific Standard Time,
RobertKi@xxxxxxxx writes:
Coming from the J24 fleet in Newport RI where we're all psycho about fair
blades and bottoms . . .
Has anyone tried misting the hull with an extremely fine coat of colored
sanding primer or soft paint to assist in fairing? A couple of the various
epoxy primer products out there are thick enough to not be pulled into the
pores of the wood, yet "thin" enough to be really easy to sand. We do a
similar thing with our J24s with a type of diluted ink while wet-sanding
finish bottom coats.
The idea is that the ink will quickly be removed via sanding from all high
spots, leaving the low spots colored. If you could apply this method to a
pre-glassed swift, I imagine the results would be even more dramatic
(striped
hull for a while). One would have to be very disciplined not to simply
attack
the low spots, but it might be possible and would produce a more uniform
thickness hull. It is also a technique that allows you to gauge how good
you
are being about moving about the boat continuously as you fair, in order to
bring the entire core thickness down to the low spots.
Anyone experiment/attempt this?
SIDE BAR Skiff question; widely accepted amongst J24 owners is that the
fairness of the forward half of the hull, keel, and rudder are the most
important, followed by the aft half of the hull. With a skiff being so
focused on planing and utilizing to a greater degree the powerful aft
section
of the hull, is this focus shifted to the fairness of the aft sections of
the
hull and the exit?
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