Quote:
The sanding is going pretty well, but there are now a lot more spots where I'm either into, or even through the cloth. On the one hand it feels good to be fairing the hull again, but on the other I'm a little leary of how far I can push it in some places.
It might be easier to use the scraper first when removing those layers of varnish, sandpaper loads up quickly when used dry. The scraper won't cut into the fiberglass as easily, either. The sandpaper can be used after most of the varnish has been scraped off, saving some time and paper.
Quote:
Now the real question. The way the sanding is going, I'll probably end up with about 1/2 of the surface area with sections of exposed wood. I don't really want to add a 2nd layer of glass without taking the full first layer off. On the other hand, I think a single piece (roughly football shaped) would make more sense than a bunch of smaller patches. So, do I keep going and sand off all the glass in that area?
Hmmm... without actually seeing the hull, not so easy to comment.. You've probably removed all the white bruises and air pockets, leaving only exposed wood and clear, undamaged fiberglass. If the damage is only on the bottom, using the curve of the strips to remove all the glass in the football-shaped area would probably yield the smoothest surface. The new layer should overlap the old by about two inches, to allow for some sanding and smoothing area in the overlap.
Sounds like there will be dents here and there, and these should be filled with clear epoxy first, then sanded fair. Once the first football-shaped fiberglass layer is on, another somewhat smaller piece in the same general shape can be added over top, for more abrasion resistance. I've done this on my cedarstrip, and as long as the edges are sanded smooth to fair with the rest of the hull, the edge of each layer is almost invisible.
You'll have to be careful not to sand through too much wood, since this might make things too flexible. This is where an extra layer or two of glass adds some compensation if hull thickness is less.
There's also the option of painting the outside to cover over damage if that's visible afterwards. The combination of wood strips on the interior and the right color on the outside can look good, even better than some not-so-well thought out cedarstrip arrangements.. Cedar canoes can provide some clues, such as dark red going with cedar wood:
http://www.sandycline.com/windyridge/lily12.html
Other colors might be dark blue, forest green, etc. that were used traditionally.