manolis

This is dynamite. I pulled a ton of great notes here; Thank you!

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try a trowel, plane and the mixing boards. Any tricks to laying down gelcoat without a gun?

I'm fairing the rudder on my dry-sailed SC27. The job was started with 3M premium Vinylester marine filler, sanding by hand with 80 grit on a longboard. It's slow going and after an afternoon I'm about 1/3 of the way through the job. Thinking through the process, I'd appreciate some recommendations. What are the right tools to mix the filler? I used a popsicle stick, squeegee and a magazine. It was a mess and made it difficult to mix evenly. What's the best process for applying filler? Squeegee it over the entire surface and block it down? Fair the leading edge, trailing edge, then apply a couple 'stripes' of filler from front to back, block those down and use them as guides to fill in the majority of the area? Trying to minimize the amount of improperly-applied and then cured filler that needs to get sanded off. Is there a better way to block the filler down? An air file? Electric powered longboard? 40 grit paper? Angle grinder with a sanding pad? (yikes) What's the best way to seal the surface? Can I use gel coat with surfacing wax? Roll it on? What kind of roller? Roll and tip, then block sand? What grit paper should I get down to prior to gel coating? Does sanded gel coat need to be 'sealed'? Or can I leave it sanded with 150 grit? The trailing edge of the rudder is thick, and will get thicker as I fair (there's a fat spot in the foil about 3" in front of the trailing edge). To taper to a thin trailing edge, I'll need to add about 1/2" to the rudder chord. Can I use regular filler for this? Or does it need to be glass reinforced? What's the best way to apply it (tape one side, pack it in, flip, remove tape and repeat?) Can I use polyester filler (bondo)? It's much cheaper ($30/gallon vs $150/gallon for the 3M stuff). What's the best mask to use for this so I don't die? I bought a 3M OV/AG/P100 mask, but am still feeling it afterwards. Are there reasonable (positive pressure) fresh air supply masks available? Can you recommend a place to buy all this stuff? The boat is in Los Angeles (San Pedro). What other questions should I be asking? Thanks! Manolis

Jesus, how could one own a boat with such a keel? No wonder they hid the "bulb" in the above photo.