Probably the sun and wind had dried the boat out too
: much. Anyway, I need to push things ahead fast so I can stablize the deck.
: I will try to finish sanding patching the deck tomorrow, then move the
: boat back inside and prepair to fiberglass the deck Sat. I just read
: Nick's idea of putting wax paper between the deck and haul and I think I
: will do that instead of trying to blue tape it as I was going to do.

: I was
: thinking of wetting the deck out with one coat of epoxy and when it was
: tacky, trying to lay the cloth on so it would stay in place while I put on
: the next coat of epoxy. Is that a bad idea?

A bad idea? Well, let's just say I personally am not fond of it. If you were using polyester resin you might get away with this. That type of resin is thicker and "tackier". Epoxy is a little too watery for this trick, to work consistently, though.

Lots of people put the cloth onto an area of wet, fresh epoxy, and then force the cloth onto the surface of the wood with their squeegees. The idea here is to wet the glass from the bottom with some of the resin already under the glass. This way you force out air that might otherwise be trapped under the weave of the fabric, while the fabric is still dry and a bit more porous. If there is not enough resin pushed through the glass to complete the wetout then a small amount might be added. If you use a seal coat that might not be necessary. If you don't use a seal coat you'll be adding in spots as the resin is absorbed into the wood and the glass gets starved.

If you try to time it so that the epoxy resin is getting tacky, then you are getting to a point where it is thickening, and it may not do a very good job of wetting the glass when you lay that on. This layer will be getting warm as the polymerization starts to occur. (Sometimes we say the resin has "kicked" at this stage.) In this case you'll need to put on a fresh batch of resin to achieve your wetout, and that, on top of the bottom layer of resin, could be an awful mess to work with.

With a layer of thin fresh resin on top of the glass, and a layer of tacky, resin under the glass, you'll have a, umm, "interesting" time trying to get the glass to come close to the wood. I don't know if you would want a squeegee, a slotted roller, or a steam roller to get that cloth down tight. And the resin that is between the wood and the cloth is only adding weight to your boat.

Sounds like you are trying to rush things. Here is a thought that might save you more time in the long run: Stop your sanding and put on a very light sealing coat of resin NOW. It will soak into the wood, stabilizing the wood a bit and helping to prevent further cracks from the wood drying. This will act a bit like a sanding sealer, sealing the pores and grain. You can sand this down to the surface of the wood, and even a bit more, giving a very smooth surface.

This may actually cut down on the amount of sanding you have to do. (After reading about how you modified your sander it sounds like you are really getting into that sanding mode, so i hope this doesn't disappoint you. )

Because the resin has soaked into the wood it will still be providing a barrier to further penetration of resin from the first coat you apply with your cloth next week -- so you'll use less at that time, and have less risk of outgassing and trapped bubbles.

Hope this helps

PGJ