I thought that I would be varnishing this weekend, but I was being overly optimistic. I wasted a lot of time sanding the epoxy. I would sand down until I was just touching the top of the glass cloth. Then I rolled on a thin coat of epoxy. Then I would sand again.
My coats of epoxy were way to thin. Every time I started to sand, I would sand back down to the cloth without ever trying to. I would barely sand at all and I was back into the cloth. You do not want to sand into the cloth because that will damage the integrity of the glass. Plus I was wasting time coating, waiting to cure, and sanding over and over again, and still not having a finish that I could varnish.
Time to change the process. I rolled three coats of epoxy in a row, without sanding in between.As soon as one coat started to firm up, I laid down another coat. About 6 or 8 hours between coats. That way they they will chemically bond to each other.
That worked out great. After 48 hours of curing time, I was able to sand out all the orange peel without sanding to deep. Never touching the glass. I was able to sand the entire kayak in about three hours.
After I took these photos, I loaded up the Wood Duck and went to Lake Fenton. The fishing was great. Hooking a nice bass in a kayak makes for an exciting after noon.
