b) one coat of epoxy

Posted by LeeG on Sep 20, 2007

My $.02 is that for sealing the underside of the deck before installation one sealing coat is totally inadequate. It seems kind of silly to go to all that effort to put on 5coats of varnish over three sealing coats on deck glass,,,leaving one inconsistant seal coat underneath to allow waterstaining from 2hrs of a closed compartment.

Speaking as someone who's done it, seen it, and done it again,,and seen it again.

That instruction seems to carry from the original CapeCharles/Patuxents and seven day classes with the implication that any curing of the sealing coat would prevent the bending of the deck panels, or the time to apply multiple coats over a day lengthens the construction time.

Applying one thick goopy seal coat does NOT work as well as two or three thin coats. Plywood can still be bent with partially cured epoxy on one side and in the instance of the back deck totally cured or pre-glassed as the bending is so little. In the case of the Mill Creeks I don't think it matters as the bend is a wide one.

I've bent a 3mm deck pre-glassed with 4oz cloth over a 14" radius deck and numerous aft decks with glass cloth. I just made sure to do it when the epoxy was still soft for a chemical bond, within 12hrs or so.

There's a clear correlation between number of sealing coats or inclusion of glass and waterproofness. Closed compartments heat up in a few hours time creating a pressure cooker enabling water vapor to find ANY microscopic hole in the epoxy.

It's true that sealing coats add weight,,like ozs . But so do things like unnecessarily big end pours, thick sheerclamps and 6mm bulkheads .

http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Epoxtest.htm

In Response to: Re: leaky boat by Chris J. on Sep 20, 2007

Replies:

• Re: b) one coat of epoxy by Chris J. on Sep 21, 2007
  • a repeating theme by LeeG on Sep 21, 2007
  • waterproof or vapor proof by LeeG on Sep 21, 2007
• Re: b) one coat of epoxy by LouA on Oct 1, 2007
  • I wouldn't use Thompsons by Robert N Pruden on Oct 1, 2007
    • Re: I wouldn't use Thomps by LouA on Oct 2, 2007
      • Re: I wouldn't use Thomps by LeeG on Oct 2, 2007
  • Try using light by Robert N Pruden on Oct 4, 2007