> Ive been working on the sanding of my boat, and I came up with
> a few questions. I was thinking of staining but, after reading some
> messages have decided against it. Is the time to paint a design/name
> of the boat on it after the sanding?

Sure, otherwise you might sand off the design. However, I don't have the slightest belief that you are done sanding. If you liked sanding the wood, you'll just love sanding the epoxy and the varnish

You can paint the design on the wood, and then cover it over with the fiberglass, or you can wait until after the fiberglass has been applied, and then paint on the design. There are strong arguments for both methods, but it is really going to be your personal decision. If you paint the design on and then fiberglass over it, that design is going to be protected by a layer of armor-like plastic and glass. It will be very difficult to remove or change. This would be the ideal way to apply registration numbers or hull identification numbers. On the other hand, paint applied over the fiberglass is a nearly 100 percent block to the UV light that causes it to deteriorate over time. also, paint is a great way to hide your errors. Any glitches in the fiberglass job can be discreetly incorporated into your artwork, or covered so they are not seen.

Before you put most paints on new wood you usually want to prime the surface, or otherwise seal the pores in the wood so that your finish coat of paint does not soak in unevenly. Since you have not yet fiberglassed the hull, now would be a good time to seal the wood with a light coat of epoxy resin.

There is a thread arguing the merits of precoating or not precoating (this is another term for sealing the wood with the resin) before applying the glass cloth. My take on the whole thing is this: A light coat of resin should soak in and seal the fibers so that you use a bit less resin when you put on the glass cloth. Some people want you to load up the wood until it can't absorb any more resin. I think this is unnecessary.

Since you are not too experienced with using this resin now is the time to jump in and get some experience. Mix up a small batch of resin and use it like paint to cover the hull. Put it on with a brush. Don't go back over an area where the resin has been applied. If it all soaks in, great. That is what it is supposed to do. Once it hardens nothing more will soak in there. Don't mix too much resin. when you use up the first batch mix as many more small batches as you need to cover the entire boat. Small batches cut down on waste. If you have any extra, or your brush is still saturated with resin, you might use it up on a few pieces of scrap wood. You can use these later for testing paint compatibility. If the resin raises the grain, after it has set you can go an sand the boat a bit to smooth things. It doesn't need to be perfect at this point. Now you can paint on your design, and not have it smear, if you desire the design under the glass cloth.

> If so, is it ok to use any kind
> of paint, or is a special kind needed?

There are a lot of paints that can be used, but probably the best would be an epoxy-based paint. Regretably, these tend to be expensive. If you can find pigments for your resin you can use that instead of paint ! This could be a lot cheaper, particularly if you just need a few ounces of different colors for a design. An art supply store might carry, or be able to special order, pigments that are commonly used in oil or acrylic based paints. If you are a glutton for punishment, you can even make your own pigments from natural sources. An artist's materials handbook, probably available at any college library, would list the various natural earths that are commonly ground into pigmants. Carbon (or soot) is obviously good for making a black. Various dried clays are good for reds, yellows and browns. (That's why these are called `earth` tones). Other pigments you can use are metal flakes and graphite -- commonly used as additives to epoxy, and available from your epoxy supplier.

An earlier thread covered using a laser printer and rice paper, or tissue paper to produce designs on your computer. When the epoxy resin soaks in, the paper turns translucent. Ordinary bond paper works, but not as well. Of course if you use ordinary paper you can use a scisors and trim closely to the printed design.

Otherwise, get a sample of the paint you want and put it on those scrapwood test panels I mentioned in the section on precoating your boat. Let the test paint dry and then cover it with another coat of epoxy. This is the best way you have to test things, and sadly, it really is not good enough. Cured epoxy is not porous. Vapors trapped under it can not escape. Even if things look good after a few days you still can not be sure that some trapped volatile solvents in your paint won't cause bubbles or other problems in the fiberglass a few years from now. To be sure, you need long term testing. Ask a lot of questions of your paint supplier, or call the manufacturer and tell them how you plan to use their product.

Paint applied over the resin has a potential for fewer problems with compatibility.

> Also, I havent given any thought
> to the issue of glassing, and that's going to be my next step. Does
> anyone know of the best source for fiberglass and resin in the San
> Francisco Bay Area? Or should I just look for it at boat supply stores?
> I dont want to order from a catalogue since that would take too long
> and I go back to school in a month (if I dont finish my boat soon
> Ill have to wait another 9 months :P )

Use the net, or the telephone, or both. Some out-of-state suppliers may be cheaper and just as fast as local suppliers. Balance your time against your money. A local retailer may have what you need instock and at a reasonable price. On the other hand, a mailorder firm that ships by overnight air express will have the stuff on your doorstep by tomorrow morning. Check the proce of the shipping, though. You might get a better deal on the materials from a mail order firms, and lose your savings to shipping costs. Of course, you should have ordered your supplies long before this, but a month is not an impossible time frame to work in.

> Im also not too sure about
> how the whole resin thing works though Ive gained a decent perspective
> through reading messages here and on links from Nick's page. But I've
> read a lot of horror stories with it so I want to be sure Im doing
> it right. Is there a book/pamphlet/video that I could get somewhere
> that goes over it?

You want a book? The first place to check is your local library. If they don't have one in their collection, ask a librarian about inter-library loans. You may find this infromation under boat building, model building, or auto repair. If you are going to use epoxy resin don't even bother looking at anything dealing with polyester resins. Fiberglast has books and videos. They also have supplies. Their URL is either www.fiberglast.com or www.fibreglast.com Same goes for Clark-craft www.clarkcraft.com Clark Craft has some interesting deals by the way. They sell 'fiberglass covering kits' for their various boat models. These kits are frequently cheaper than the price of the materials in them. For instance, I bought a covering kit for one of their 16 foot canoes for less money than I could buy the exact same amounts of resin and glass cloth from them. (Since I used it on a 14 foot canoe, I had a few extra feet of material that way, too.) I asked the person there what materials came in the kits. He told me how many gallons of resin, how many feet of cloth, and it was more materials than I needed at less cost. Other places may have deals like this. It pays to ask. Clark craft's price list is free, although their catalog is $5. There are tips in the free price list on applying the resins. Why not get the books either from your local library or have them sent by overnight express,(expensive) while the materials are sent 2nd day delivery ( a bit cheaper). This way you'll have a day to watch the tapes and read the books, and your materials will arrive the next day -- just when you are all pumped and psyched to do it.

> Thank you for helping me deal with my paranoia,
> Matt

Sorry, for psychiatric help we charge extra. It is probably best to assume at the beginning that everything will go horribly wrong. Then, when it doesn't, you will be so happy with the results that you will start on another project, or at least spend those next nine months dreaming about one.

Best of luck to you.

Paul Jacobson