Filler Question

Treewater

Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
How long do we wait between filler coats? I've slathered it on heavy in the past and done one coat but this time I've put on a single first coat a bit thinner, (weave slightly shows) and got a good finish. I could let it cure and paint it then but it seems to me an extra coat would be perfect. Right now, any extra filler "balls up" (causes lumps) in the first coat.
I'm using Blanchard's formula with some alteration, Thompson's Water Seal instead of spar varnish.
Any advice?
 
You need to completely fill the weave so that you can fair (sand smooth) the surface of the canoe before painting. You DO NOT want to be sanding the cloth at any point. Fill the weave. If you omit this critical step, your paint finish will be rough. I sand my filler with a long board and 80 grit the first sanding. I use light pressure so that I can see my high and low spots- watch the scratch marks and you will see this right off. Fill low spots if necessary and sand lightly to fair the hull. Once I like the fairing I sand the 80 grit scratches away with 120 grit and let cure for a couple weeks, at least and then paint.
I'm not sure how well your substitution of TWS for the spar varnish will work. There have been other threads that have discussed TWS and the general conclusion has been that they have changed the TWS formula and no-longer recommend it for water craft. You will have to let us know.
 
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