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Hull Faired

Well it's turning out to be a big day for the new Sun Wind II RC sailboat!

I just faired the hull. First, I used my random orbital sander with 60 grit paper and really shaped the planks fair to each other. If you use 60 grit paper on cedar though, just BE SUPER CAREFUL! Cedar is very soft, and 60 grit can take off a LOT of wood very quickly. Keep the sander moving, and carefully eyeball the glue lines. As soon as the planks are fair, and the excess glue is gone, then stop!

You can see how sloppy the planks were before starting:


Then here is how it looked after the 60 grit scrubbing. You can see how rough the 60 grit leaves the surface.


Afterwards, I went over it by hand with 200 grit, and then 320 grit. Those papers easily knock down the rough stuff and bring out the grain more. You don't need to go less than 200 or 320, and in fact, you shouldn't go smoother. Leave a little bit of tooth for the epoxy and fiberglass to lock onto.

And don't worry, the grain will really pop out after the fiberglassing. It'll be much darker too.



Next, it's off to fiberglassing!!


Aloha!


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