> I've put 2 coats of epoxy on the deck of my boat(no fiberglass)
> and am sanding the epoxy in prep for varnishing. I've sanded to a
> generally dull finish but have little "freckles" of shiny
> epoxy e.g. tiny low spots in the finish in several areas. Will the
> varnish cover these spots with an even clear colour? If I try to get
> all the spots out I'm afraid of sanding into the bare wood. Also,
> I have a similar situation on my fiberglass hull where I'm preping
> for a solid colour polyurethane. Am I right in assuming that the urethane
> will fill the depressions if they are very small and random? As in,
> almost imperceptible (The weave is sanded flat)

A few spots? A lot of spots? How wide? How shallow?

You might try sanding with a fine grit paper or sanding cloth that is very flexible. Put a few sheets of plain cloth (muslin, flannel, what have you) under the sand paper when you put it on your sander, so that the paper is flexible and can flex a bit into those depressions.

Or, try going over the area with steel wool, or loose sanding grit ( like the stuff used for polishing, or tumbling rocks) using a soft cloth pad or a pad on a sanding wheel. The idea is to change those pits into areas that may be shallower than the surrounding resin, but still merge in smoothly.

Think of the process as one of trying to feather-in each depression into the surrounding area. Stiff sandpaper can cause the depressions to look like sharp-edged pits because it just scrapes across the tops of those pits. A softer medium, like steel wool, or a powder medium, like the loose sanding grit gets into those pits and wears away the edges so they blend into the surrounding area.

You don't want that glossy surface at the bottoms of those pits, anyway. You want to scuff things lightly so the finish has something to bite into.

If you use steel wool, remember that the stuff frequently has a light oil coating to keep it from rusting. You'll have to carefully clean off the remains of that coating and any remaining bits of broken steelwool fibers before you varnish. Same caution for using loose grit abrasives: clean things well.

If you have a few pitted areas that you are particularly worried about, before you go for the sander, mix up an ounce of resin and go over the whole boat, just putting a drop into each of those pits. The drop will fill in the depression, and some will ooze out, leaving an excess amount that can be easily sanded down smooth. This process is analogous to spot priming your house before painting it. you jsut hit the areas that really need it, and then blend them into the surrounding areas with gentle sanding.

A couple of coats of paint or varnish should cover all but the worst cases. If they are already imperceptible, head for the finish, not more resin. If there are still a few spots you can touch up those areas only, and sand things smooth before applying the final light coat.

Whether you keep working on the resin coat, or touch up the finish coats is your choice. How much work do you want to do? If you put on a thick finish coat it will flow into those pits, but it may also run and sag -- which means more sanding.

On the other hand, if you put on several thin coats each one will help to gradually fill in the depressions, but you stand to do a lot more sanding to remove any high spots, or bug specks.

Personally I'd work on those pits in the resin and get things a bit smoother before finishing. Since you don't have any glass cloth on the deck you can sand into the wood a good 1/64 th of an inch, and still be in wood that is protected by the resin. That stuff soaks in quite deeply. I doubt that you will have to actually sand that deep, though. My practice would be to put on a coat of resin, which would soak in, and might raise the grain. I'd then sand that flat, which would mean cutting into the raised grain. A light application of resin for a second coat should then sit on top and level itself pretty well, so I (hopefully) would not need much sanding to prepare for the varnish.

Paul Jacobson