Hull finish

[dwilfong]

Painted the bottom of my wooden boat with a water reducible epoxy thinned down very thin. The wood soaked up the epoxy like a sponge leaving a sand paper like finish. I am thinking this should brake the surface tension of the water.

Should I leave this finish or sand it smooth and paint it again to get a smooth finish.

 

[Steve-O]

Depends upon what you mean by SandPaper like finish!

A slick, shiney finish is of course NOT what you want, but you also don't want a rough gritty feel.

A better description of the desired finish would be a smooth, silky finish that is not slick or reflective.

Paint the bottom to seal it up well, and provide enough coats to allow you to sand it smooth N silky with some 325 to 600 grit wet/dry paper. I typically put on 2 coats of primer, sand smooth, then 2 to 3 finish coats sanding out imperfections and smoothing between coats. Sometimes a wooden bottom just takes more paint than you would think it should.

Good luck.

 

[jetpack]

You can also use white 3M rubbing compound on the bottom front to back to make it a satin finish without any sanding trough marks, works about the same but gives a more even sheen and a little safer on rub through. A good trick on water ski's too. You can feel the difference.