My buddy was giving me crap for glassing on fins with only hot coat instead of using laminate first. Who cares? does it really matter? I figured I should only use laminate on laminate instead of using it on a board that has already been hot coated. Let me know if I am just being lazy
Technically, your buddy’s right. Hotcoat has more styrene and it has wax as well. When dealing with a dependent structure like a fin, it may be wise to use lam resin, followed by a hotcoat. In this way you will also add more “protection” from sanding into the cloth (and losing strength) of the fin/board joint.
Remember also that you cannot apply another coat of resin to hotcoat resin until you’ve sanded the surface well (give it some tooth).
The good thing you have going for yourself, is that:
yes, it will hold together probably good enough using HC,
the board will surf,
your buddy doesn’t frequent this site,
and you will win the discussion… 