: Should I consider sanding that smooth now (being careful of
: the structural glass) or wait until after the final fill coat.
: thanks
: David in Tasmania

Actually, there is a better course. Use a very sharp scraper and scrape away the high spots while the epoxy is still "green" or slightly soft.

You do not want to try sanding the epoxy at this stage. The "green" epoxy will smear rather than be neatly sanded off.

Once the epoxy has hardened more it can be sanded, but if you wait that long then you lose a lot of time. Some would add that you get a better "chemical" bond if you recoat before the epoxy has hardened, but I'm not sure there is enough difference in strength to be noticed.

My objection with sanding before fillig the weave is that the sanding dust gets caught in the valleys created by the weave texture of the fabric and it is very hard to remove it entirely. That later shows up as small spots.

If you wait until the weave is filled before sanding off the high spots and loose threads then you'll need to cover the sanded area with another coat of resin to seal the ends of exposed glass threads so they don't wick up water. Again, more time.

So scrape away now and you'll get a nice base before you add more resin to fill the weave.

PGJ