Finishing options
Once the hull is completely assembled and glued, there are multiple options to finish the hull:
- No finish - While uncommon, some club sailors successfully sail boats with no finishing, leaving the printed parts with the texture of layer lines. Sanding is only completed on the joints, while protecting the hull with tape.
- Sanding and polishing only - Perfected by Richard Smith, this technique adds no coating over the printed plastic hull. A sequence of sanding with progressively finer grits and final polishing of the plastic results in a pristine shiny hull in a few hours of careful power sanding (or a lot of elbow grease).
- Sanding and clear coat - The most common approach used by builders preserves the plastic color but achieves a shiny gloss by covering the boat with 2 component clear coat after careful sanding.
- Sanding, priming, painting and clear coat - The more traditional approach used to finish fibreglass boats can also be applied to 3D printed hulls, with the full coverage producing exceptional visual results. In this case the underlying color of the printed boat is less relevant and joints will be fully concealed.
- Glass coating - While unnecessary, a layer of glass and epoxy will give additional rigidity and strength to the hull. This will typically require fully sanding, fairing, priming, painting and a clear coat finish.
Come back to this page later as we will expand on the steps for the various finishing options above.