Glassing my first board and using FCS 2 fin plugs. Just finished laminating top and bottom and am about to do the hot coat. I understand that while sanding the hot coat you are supposed to sand the fin plugs until the holes are exposed as shown in the FCS tutorial video.
However I plan to do a gloss coat after the hot coat. Will I need to re-cover the plugs with more tape for the gloss coat? The fin plugs came with specially shaped tape to cover the holes which I obviously can’t re-use once I sand them off so I would probably have to try to cut the same shape out of normal tape. Any ideas from someone who has already done this before on the best process?
Razorblades are your friends.
Put masking tape over the plugs.
Drag a razorblade layed over at a 45* angle to make sure the tape is layed down flat all over and completely adhered.
Then use the razorblade to cut out the shape of the plug leaving the areas you need covered.
White masking tape is good for this as you can see the plugs through it better but blue works too.
Though I must add, I find I’m getting better results when I sand down the fin boxes BEFORE I hot-coat. I do it at the same time and use the same pneumatic grinder I use when I grind the laps. Then I put on the second set of stickers prior to hot-coating. I find when I sand down the boxes pre-hot-coat, I expose all the bubbles around the box and the hot-coat fills them.
