The Verdict

Posted by CLC on May 31, 2005

I spoke with Matt and it's clear that the problem was humid evening air mingling with curing epoxy overnight. This can cause non-blushing epoxies to blush. After the application of epoxy coat #1, the hull sat in an open carport in the (moderately humid) Virginia Beach air overnight, and coat #2, 18 hours later, didn't have anything to stick to.

An adjacent clothes dryer exhaust may very well have played a role, too.

Matt will throw a tarp over the hull to protect it from the falling damps in the future. I have seen this happen many times, most especially at the WoodenBoat School in Maine. We roll slow-hardener epoxy onto hulls; evening comes and the fog rolls in through the big double doors at the WB School shop. The next morning there is a greasy film on epoxied surfaces that has to be wiped off with solvent.

The prognosis for Matt's boat is excellent; the bad coating has yielded to sandpaper, scrapers, and salty oaths, and a fresh coat will be applied.

In Response to: Big Problem Glassing Hull by Matt Croce on May 31, 2005

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