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| Sanding Next, abrade the gel coat outlined by the tape. Roughing the surface will assure that the polyester resin will adhere properly. This is most easily done by using a flap brush with an electric drill. The type that works best for this project has nylon bristles  arranged in rows around a drum: It won’t remove the masking tape from the hull when you start sanding. Brushes with more tightly arranged bristles will. Getting the proper flap brush will save you a lot of masking headaches. Wear a dust mask, safety glasses and hearing protection while using the sanding bit.Work the brush all the way down the center of the masked area, overlapping the tape to ensure that the entire surface has been prepped. Give the prepped surface a quick wipe with acetone to remove the dust from sanding. Now you’re ready to finish masking. The next strip of one-inch tape is applied overlapping the outer strips and covering only 1/8-inch of the sanded gel coat. Run the tape all the way down the hull on both sides so that you have two pieces of tape forming the border of the keel-strip area. If you have a skeg in the boat, run two pieces of tape over the skeg box, overlapping each other at the center. Trim these pieces to shape with a razor knife, just outside the perimeter of the skeg box opening. Two pieces of tape are then used to separate the skeg box area from the rest of the masked strip. The fiberglass tape won’t actually cover the skeg box area, but the gel coat will. Once you have finished this final masking, give the boat another wipe with acetone. Now you’re ready to apply the fiberglass. Applying Fiberglass and Resin Mix up a batch of waxed polyester resin according to the directions provided on the container. I prefer to use 10 to 20 percent more catalyst than is recommended. This creates a “hotter” mix that will cure more quickly. You will be working the fiberglass tape into shape as it cures, so it’s nice to have a mix that goes off fairly quickly. As the resin gets tacky, you can use a cheap bristle brush to get the tape pressed neatly to the hull. Polyester resin is fairly tolerant of imprecise ratios, and I’ve had good success with this technique. Waxed polyester resin is used because the wax in the mix will rise to the resin’s surface as it cures. This isolates the resin from oxygen and promotes a quick, hard cure. Unwaxed resin would remain sticky for far too long when used in this application. Make up a big batch of resin—10 ounces should do it. You don’t want to run out halfway through the process.  Roll out a piece of two-inch fiberglass tape onto the hull of the boat and cut it to size. If you have a skeg in the boat, you will need two pieces: one to run from the front of the skeg box area to the bow and a second to run from the rear of the skeg box area to the stern. The tape will lengthen somewhat as you brush it into place, but you will be trimming it later after the resin has been applied.Using an inexpensive bristle brush, apply a layer of resin to the hull between the masked lines. Roll out the fiberglass tape starting at one end and moving to the other. Apply resin to the tape once you have laid it into position. Again, start at one end and work toward the other. Try to keep the tape straight, and work the resin into the fibers so that it becomes a uniform, translucent color. As you reach the turn of the bow or stern, the tape will resist lying down smoothly. This is where you need to continue working until the resin begins to cure. As it starts to cure, it will get sticky, and the fiberglass will lie down and adhere to the gel coat. You will be pulling the top layer of masking tape off the kayak before the resin becomes too hard. You want the resin to be slightly thick, like the consistency of molasses, when you do this. Pull the masking tape across the center of the boat as you remove it. This pulls any residue from the resin back onto the resin-saturated fiberglass tape and creates a neat line. Remove the two cross pieces of masking tape in the skeg box area at this time. As the resin becomes “green” or partially cured, use a razor knife to trim the fiberglass tape into the desired shape at the ends. Repeat the process with the other end of the kayak if necessary.
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