Resin and Glass
Clear-coat the weave. After the resin-impregnated cloth is relatively dry to the touch, it is time to clear-coat or "fill-out" the weave. This is adding a clear coat of resin with a foam roller or brush that fills the glass and protects it from most abrasion, including subsequent sanding and varnish operations. Be sure to catch any runs or little air bubbles with a dry foam brush--- be careful if the brush starts to melt. Some foams will collect resin and some resins will pretty quickly "cook-off" within the foam,. Try to remedy larger air bubbles ---where the glass pulls away from the hull--- with a little persuasive adjustment from a gloved finger and perhaps a tad more resin. Be patient, this can be a bit trying! Catch those bubbles now, it is far easier than later having to cut-away the glass, sand, patch, etc. Now the hull really looks good! Also, it is now dimensionally stable and very strong, compared to when it was a bundle of glued-up strips. (By the way, the surface of the boat in the following photos is dry to the touch!)
Bow view (same stage as above). Time for a well-earned rest. After the resin-glass-wood composite fully hardens in a day or so, we will detatch the hull from the strongback, flip it into a cradle, detatch the uprights (but leave in the station forms) and begin to construct the deck! It is now time to inventory the remaining strip material and begin thinking about a design that will make the craft individual and distinctive.
It is the 30th of July... We are now three weekends and numerous evenings past when we laid the internal chine strips on the 4th!
Next (on to stripping the deck)