: pygmys butt joints are joined together with a 1 inch strip of a light
: (2oz?)fiberglass tape. due to the problems I had with it last time I was
: really carefull. I did a light sanding of the wood, precoated the wood
: with a light layer of epoxy, came back in about 6 hours when the epoxy was
: lightly tacky. I layed the tape over the joint and used a foam paintbrush
: to paint on a layer of epoxy, places a piece of mylar over the top and
: layed down a couple of bricks on top to keep everything in order (and to
: help the plywood lay down flat)

: I removed the tape about two weeks later.

: only 6 hours between layers, if blush is the culpret, then I am really in
: trouble here, besides it really doesn't get that humid here.

: the epoxy _seems_ fine, it stuck just fine to the wood and all, it got hard
: &ct. it was just that teh epoxy did not want to stick to the fiberglass
: tape

: I hope not, this is the very first step so there is very little time for
: something to contaminate the wood. I havn't spilled anything on it, I
: havn't been smoking anything in the garage. I'm even waiting till I'm
: finished with the kayak before cleaning the carbs on my wifes honda

I don't think it was a blush problem, I think that the tape did not have a thick enought layer of epoxy on the outside of it, so it worked kind of like peel-ply. Slightly starved glass, even if it wets out clear, does not have quite as much bonding adhesion as fully wet out cloths, this becomes more obvious with lighter weights of glass. If you sand the surface of the inside tape before you glass it or apply more epoxy you should be fine. The tape is only really needed while assembling the hull, once is is assembled, it can be removed, and the rest of the glass will be the strength, it will behave just like the joints between strips on a strip-built.

FWIW I have light stipes at the butt joints on my Pygmy, but it is something I put up with because it is an excellent hull design. If I did another I would use spline joints.