The gloss coat is to seal any pinholes left in your hotcoat.
it was sacrificed for sake of weight in the late 80s.
its not necessary per se but its a preference by many.
you can polish epoxy… you just wont get it as shiny as a poly gloss.
From what I heard from board builders in the 60’s, the glosscoat’s primary function was to seal fibreglass exposed from sanding the hotcoat. It also polishes up nice and provides a little extra protection on pinlines which are done on the sanded hotcoat.
You can polish epoxy but it is important to be careful sanding and not expose any fiberglass with your first 1 or two grits. For epoxy to really shine you have to sand through all the grits then compound and polish. Each progressive sanding grit removes the scratches from the previous grit.
It’s traditional and looks great if done properly. A seal coat of some type over a sanded hotcoat(epecially if you are a beginning board builder) is a necessary preventive measure. In other words; It insures that your sanded hotcoat is water proof. Most common mistake a beginning board builder makes is oversanding the hotcoat. Which; can result in seepage of water thru oversanded weave and pin holes. Knew a guy on Maui that sanded the piss outta his “bitchin” shapes. You could spot his boards a mile away. After a few days in the water they had brown spots all over them. If you don’t gloss and polish a final coat of resin( whether P oly or Epoxy) at least spray or wipe on some kind of final finish coat. Your board will stay cleaner as well. Hand prints, Maui mud etc.
…fella, is very simple: most boards for sale have a gloss coat, but sanded. the others have a polished gloss coat. A small % have a sprayed speed finish and even small % are only laminated and hot coated.
Thank you so much evryboady! tottaly got it. i have another quesation that has nothing to do with this post but i like to ask her here instead opening antoher therad.
why the skill plane cost sooooo much?? what so special about them
all boards were done in aus this way untill some idiots changed it for the worse? it was once a required skill and still is hence why you dont see to many