sanding mess

[rix]

Hi all,
I'm building my first stripper and when I started sanding the epoxy I must have started in an area of thin epoxy and sanded away halfway through the fiberglass. At the time I thought it was just removing the sheen of the epoxy down to the white unsheened surface. By the time I caught it I had done about a two foot section on one side - pretty depressing.
Does anyone know what my best options are.
I plan on rolling on a few coats of epoxy on the whole hull and resanding before varnishing but I fear it is going to show through as a much lighter patch on the boat. Should I lay a patch of glass over the area also? Or will that show through even more from trying to blend it in?
HELP!!

[jamesdmacro]

That sort'a depends on where the main part of the damage is.
The stems, bottom and especially the bilges need as much strength as you can give them. The sides and inner hull are far less critical. (I skipped glassing the inner sides on one boat and only partially on another to save weight.)
On the outer hull, it needs to be good.
Depending on where and how much damage there is, there are four choices:
1) 6oz patch (weave was cut through on a bilge or stem.)
2) 2.5oz reinforcement (weave was damaged, not cut through.)
3) Do nothing and continue on with the boat.
4) Reglass the entire boat
Of these choices, I lean to the 2.5oz reinforcement. Glass is really hard to sand off. Unless you really worked at it, I doubt you sanded a 2 foot area completely though the weave. That would take some real work(I hate work), soo, I would recommend getting some UL glass, I think 2.5oz is the lightest, and use that to recover the area where the weave was sanded through (or close to it.)
While it is OK, to touch the weave threads while sanding, cutting them is not a good thing. Small areas, where a bubble developed for example, is OK to skip. You loose a very little strength, overall. But the 2 foot area you mention really requires repair. Using 6oz cloth tells me you are not that interested in saving weight, soo the additional fabric will only weigh <1 pound, including glass, and epoxy. Well worth it to have a long lasting boat.
Better, would be to apply a full patch, cutting the fiberglass, removing the sheet and replacing it with 6oz patch, iff you did cut the weave. After sanding and epoxy, it will be barely visable. Patching fiberglass on a hull is outlined elsewhere, but cut the fiberglass outline, remove the sheet, fill any damage and feather the edges. Apply the patch, feather it into the hull and continue on from there.
For esthetics, the 2.5oz will be nearly invisable. The 6oz patch will probably be barely visable. Bringing up the 4th option. Sand the entire boat down and reglass the whole hull. This will be invisable, but heavy. It will make for a really durable boat, but add ~7-10 pounds. You might consider doing the entire boat with 2.5oz fabric to save a pound or so.
If it is just the side wall, I think you can skip it with slight loss of strength and durability. I am guessing it was on a bilge, though.
jdm