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Hello,
I've just been fiberglassing the hull and I put on the second coat of epoxy today. I need to put my project in storagetil January by the end of the week, and I"m not sure the weather is going to cooperate with getting the last coat on, and smooth the transitions between the different layers of glass. (which I think is suggested to be done between coats 2 and 3, though I wonder if there is enough thickness yet to do that without sanding into the weave?) It's in the low 50's (low 40's at night )and raining!! I am working in a garage but presumably the humidity of rain further extends cure time? I"m concerned firstly about the epoxy curing at lower tempreatures like this and also is it bad to wait an extended period of time between this second and third coat? What should I do?
Thanks!
4 replies:
RE: Time between epoxy coats?
My experience is that the best time to sand out the cloth edges is about 12 hours after applying the epoxy - or a bit later at cold temps. At that stage it is cured enough that it doesn't clog the sandpaper, but still soft enough to sand easily. Once it's fully cured, it's like polishing diamonds. Don't be concerned about cutting into the cloth edges. They are saturated with epoxy and will be recovered later. You can apply additional coats after the epoxy is fully cured as long as you wash off any amine blush with soapy water and sand the surface to roughen it. -Wes
RE: Time between epoxy coats?
I'm a newbie, but . . . At those temps and humidity you will probably get a bit of blush even though that brand is not supposed to. I got just a bit of blush with similar conditions last week. It didn't seem to "come up" until late in the curing of the last coat though, and I did the wet-out of the glass and 3 coats to fill each with the epoxy a bit softer than might be recommended. I would think that you want to do what you can to get those fill coats on in short order so that you get the advantage of the chemical bond. It seems like sanding half-filled glass would be tricky.
RE: Time between epoxy coats?
» Submitted by LarryMcInnis - Sun, 10/25/09 » 7:10 AM
Nicnik,
Call MAS (888-627-3769, or visit WWW.MASEPOXIES.COM). I had questions regarding both humidity (rain) and temperature, and they were very helpfull. They're the best resource at your fingertips.
This, of course, assume's your building a kit or plans from CLC and using MAS...?
Larry