Hi, all. I’m a newbie building my first stripper (Petrel Play) down here in Louisiana, with only books, web, and videos for support. I put my slow hardening seal coat on my hull exterior last night, and planned to glass today. Overnight...about a dozen little critters are now stuck in the epoxy surface as bumps. I had seal coated at dusk inside my shop, hoping the falling temps would help prevent bubbles from off-gassing, but didn’t anticipate bugs being attracted to the light (I had the door cracked open for my air mover to exhaust). Most are pretty tiny. So I was planning to sand them out, but searching in the archives makes me think I shouldn’t sand the seal coat (more than a rough up) because a mottled appearance will result...white spots, etc. One person from back in the day suggested a cabinet scraper; another decided to just leave them in (not my preferred option). Any guidance would be very much appreciated.
You should be able to scrape…
You should be able to scrape them out with a small tool without too much trouble. Something like a small knife blade would give you better control than a cabinet scraper for something that small. You could do a light sanding to take off any rough edges after removing them, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Scraper
Hi!
For light duty like you are facing with tiny bugs, I use a scraper I made out of a used up Japanese saw blade.
But I am quite confident you have already found another effective way to remove the little critters. However, should you ever find yourself in possession of an otherwise useless piece of thin somewhat hard and flexible steel you now know of a potential use for it.
John VB
Thanks
I scraped the bugs out but still left a pencil eraser-sized mark. I plan to glass tomorrow, so we’ll see how it comes out. I’m probably stressing over nothing....but it’s hard to know which ones are the real problems! I’m ok on this first one if it passes the “5-foot test”, as I’m learning a lot....
Thanks,
Mike