More sanding, more fairing putty ... sigh

 Well, I think I can see the light at the end of the starboard float tunnel ... or is that a train!?  I sanded down all of the fairing putty I applied the past couple weeks.  This was a lot of effort, requiring about 5-6 hours of continuous sanding, but the result was very nice.  The reinforcing layers of glass blend in with the hull seamlessly.  And most of the putty has ben removed so the glass pattern is visible, though perfectly smooth.  I was careful to only sand to the top of the glass so I wouldn't remove the structural glass fibers.  The glass tends to be much more "slippery" under the fairing board, whereas the fairing putty produces significant friction and needs much more effort to push the board over.  By noticing the difference in the feel, not to mention the appearance of the glass fabric pattern, I was able to gauge when an area was sanded enough.

 Here is a close up view of the bow after sanding.  The layers of glass are pretty clear, but if I close my eyes and run my hand over it (with a nitrile glove on so I don't get any skin oil on the epoxy) I can't tell where the layers transition.  I did use the power belt sander a little on the second day of sanding to knock down the high spots in the skim coat.  This made the hand sanding with the fairing board much more bearable.  But be very careful with the power sander because it only takes a moment for it to cut through the fairing putty and into the glass, leaving a low area.  Keep the sander moving at all times, and go over a large area uniformly for an even effect since the sander isn't big enough to blend areas greater than about 6 inches.  I also stopped early enough to leave material for the fairing board to do it's job blending larger scale, irregular surface features.

After the sanding work, I carefully inspected the surface to find the few remaining low areas and discontinuities at the edges of the reinforcing layers.  I then applied very thin layers of fairing putty with a wide squeegee.  I tried to minimize the amount of putty applied so I won't have to do much more sanding.  If you look closely at this photo you can see the shiny areas where the putty was applied.  I'll do the same on both sides and then make the final pass with the long board.  After that, we are on to hatch and port installation.