Fairing notes-it sucks. The awlgrip545 epoxy primer mixture with cabosil and microballoons method works only in skim coating for the deck patch recore, but works well if kept skimmed. any depth it cracks when drying. still a good trick to eliminate epoxy primer/sand/fair compound/sand/repeat cycles. as it keeps the fairing compound white basically same as primer.
finished my 2 hatches today-awlgrip rolled/tipped 2 coats. next 1/2" 3m tape to duplicate original deck look. used all the fancy additives-cold cure accelerator x-138, craterx,skidtex additive. redtree rollers. awlgrip prep liquid forgot its name. Yikes on cost. Lots of paint used when rolling. My first time with awlgrip. the hatches are my test case before I move onto doing my deck recore project painting next. Deck patch decided to sand out the rest of the deck to stern on each side and prime/topcoat, otherwise will have a noticeable line. couple of spot touch ups here in deck for cracks. I wont know if my fancy GFlex epoxy in the dremeled out cracks to the glass, around the boat, will work till later in the season. these were not major but through the awlgrip and thru gelcoat. one of the downsides to awlgrip is spot repairs and patches for sure for a DIY'er like me. hence sanding/prime/paint a chunk of the deck now will avoid the spotted white cow albino syndrome and move the line out to the perimeter of deck with gutter edge 90%, except the crack repairs those will have a line noticeable. I plan to use some preval sprayers for the spots to final topcoat and be less obvious I hope than brushing, and found a tip to use a 100% reducer spray to blend in the edges...course this all pre-supposes a good sand/fair job first. its a fishing boat though worst case! the boat is prior alwgripped. I would not use awlgrip again if starting from scratch as a DIYer. and go with something like signature paint based on research here and results.
oh and having to buy the awlgrip blue book was sort of insulting...
