: on my first pigmy I did not like the light colored strips where the butt
: joints were epoxyied together. someone else mentioned this and they had
: talked to pigmy about this issue, and they decided to sand off the tape
: and epoxy before glassing the outside of the boat.
: So when it came time to remove the tape I thought that I would need to sand
: through the whole thing down to the wood to get it gone. but when I
: started to remove the tape, I was able to pull it off of the wood easely.
: I have had to remove more difficult duct tape. The epoxy remained on the
: boat, but the tape pulled off of the epoxy like it had not bonded
: properly.

: The question is, should I plan on sanding off all of the tape on the deck and
: the inside of the hull. If the tape is preventing a good bond with the
: epoxy, will it then act as a barrier for the rest fo teh fiberglass,
: causing a weak spot right on the joint when the rest of the boat is
: glassed in?

I do not understand what you mean by the light colored strips by the butt joints. I have built three Pygmy boats and do not have any "light colored strips" by any of the butt joints.

Secondly, whey you refer to tape, are you meaning the light fiberglass tape provided with the kit or some other kind of tape? You also state that the tape pulled off easily - did you coat the wood with epoxy first and if so, how long did it sit before you appied the tape?

If you precoated first, and more than three days passed, the bond will not be chemical and you presumably did not sand to make it a mechanical bond. If you did not precoat, it could have been from the glass becomming epoxy starved as the wood absorbed the epoxy leaving little for the glass.

If you precoated the wood and sanded before the fiberglass tape, did the epoxy become contimated by anything which would interfere with the bond? What might have been on the surface of the epoxy? An example might be the use of a kerosene heater which will interfere with the bonding of epoxy.

As far as the tape making for a weak section when fiberglassing, the tape they provide with the kit is fiberglass and will not interfere with the bond in any way as long as the surface is sanded to provide "tooth" for the fiberglassing stage.

A little hint - if you sand the but joints smooth before you lace up the boat, your sanding job will be easier when you are preparing to fiberglass. It is easier to sand on your flat smooth bench than it is to sand the boat at a later stage. This is particularily true for the inside of the boat. Just remember to lightly sand those surfaces a second time just before fiberglassing to eensure a good bond