I’ve done single lam on the bottom, deck lam and deck lam that wraps the rails, my first glass job so it’s a pretty thick resin so am not doing a resin hot coat, just a gloss resin coat, advice from a friend, good idea or not? But mainly, what the answer to ‘FCS plug install before or after gloss coat’???
Thanks in advance!
Rick
Rick,
Im no expert when it comes to glossing etc but through experience i would say you do need to have at least a thin hot coat to help fill the weave, provide a good base for your gloss to settle on and act as a buffer to stop you sanding straight through. The 2 batches of gloss resin i have had from UK suppliers have been thinner than lam resin. Also because your lam is Wax free it will be pretty tacky to touch. If you sand through your gloss you will be left with a tacky patch, especially if this is your first attempt.
When i started shaping and glassing a few years ago i found it pretty tough to get a good hot coat first go (no lumps, bumps etc) so i would sand it back and do another thin one (10% styrene added) on top. This always came up nice. I would suggest (even if you have quite thick lamination) that you do a thinned out hot coat (10% styrene) to give a good surface and then do a gloss over that. It wont add much weight and probably save grief later on.
FCS plugs (not the new system) go in after the board is glossed. Getting the plugs in solid with no mess around the holes can be hard work and i still seem to get a few blotches here and there. Read the advice on here on how to do it. Seabase UK have a guide on how to do it on thier website (in docs i think).
Good luck
Actually, FCS plugs go in after your hot coat is kicked, before you sand anything. They require a little bit of hard sanding, so you start your sand job by getting them flush with the bottom of the board, then sand the whole board.
FCS Install as stated above by surfthis. Don't leave off the hotcoat. You'll regret it. Otherwise leave it off if you want a $#!tty gloss coat.
PS No hot-coat will also most likly screw up your install on the FCS plugs. For instance the hole saw will tear out a little cloth around the perimenter of the hole. Which means you will then have to take the extra step of putting a patch over the plug. The filler will get in the weave of the cloth around the hole and look like $#!t. When you try to sand the plug and unsightly filler down flush you will burn thru the cloth; again requiring the extra step of a patch over each plug. When you sand the hotcoat any excess lam resin will come off with the hotcoat. There is a reason people have spent years doing things in a certain order. But then again it is Swaylocks.
Bad advice from your friend, you DO need a hot coat. (in contrast you do not NEED a gloss coat).
More advice – pick a system other than old school FCS plugs. Particularly if you haven’t done them before.