[Paddlewise] Hull Repair

A few more questions on hull repair, etc.:
1.  What are the advantages of fiberglass cloth vs matting?  When I've tried to
work with the matting, it pretty much just came apart as soon as I got it in the
resin, with fiberglass strands going everywhere.  The only way I found I could
apply it was to put a heavy coat of the resin on first, then lay the dry matting
on top, and then paint more resin on top of it (ie on the other side).
2.  My keel line is pretty worn, so I was thinking of laying a strip of
fiberglass tape embedded in epoxy just along the keel line, then smooth it over
with the top coating.  I remember someone else (I think it was Matt) commenting
(hopefully I'm not taking this out of context) to the effect that if you
reinforce one area very solidly, then the junction point between that area and
the unreinforced areas receive more stress and thus become more susceptible to
cracking.  Is it best to try to feather it out, like in taping drywall?  Or is
this unnecessary for this kind of reinforcement.
3.  In which situations is adding a filler advantageous?  And what are the pros
and cons of different types of filler?

Evan Dallas
Woodinville, Washington


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