Applying the Epoxy Fill Coat

Here's a couple shots showing the shell with its second (fill) coat.  Not much to see--maybe a little shinier than after the first (wetting out) coat.  I used a roller for the whole thing--seemed quicker and easier than spreading it with the squeegee first, and I think I got it very even.  This coat is kind of a balancing act.  You want to get it thick enough to fill the weave, but not so thick to cause runs and sags.  I spent a lot of time going over each section again and again and looking for runs or sags, then went over the whole thing again.  I didn't find any, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.  At least I kept it to a minimum as much as I could.

In an earlier post I said I thought it might be overkill to add masking to the quarter panels, but as you can see it was not.  Those runs would probably not have caused a huge sanding job, but one I am glad to have easily avoided them anyway.

I thought it was a good idea to follow the manual's advice and use any leftover epoxy to go ahead and seal the inside of the transom.  Turns out there was exactly enough--how did they do that?
But here is where I part company with CLC.  They say to follow this step with sanding and then to add the final (gloss) coat, but according to MAS you can add the next coat as soon as it the previous coat achieves "surface tack."  There are several reasons I have decided to do it their way, although I'm sure the guys at CLC know what they are doing.  But here are my reasons:
1. If the fill coat was not thick enough in spots, you could sand into the fiberglass fabric, weakening it.
2. Applying the gloss coat before the fill coat loses tack ensures a good chemical bond.
3. It's just a lot easier.  Even though CLC never says to sand the final (gloss) coat I'm willing to bet you will have to.  So that's an additional sanding plus you've got to clean up all the sanding dust before you can apply the gloss coat.
4. This will provide two coats of epoxy over the fiberglass fabric before any sanding is done, greatly decreasing the chance of sanding into the fabric (repeating myself here for emphasis).