Easypoxy by Pettit, others experience

I chose Easypoxy due to previous good experiences with it.  I am going to first do the cockpit of my Chesapeake 17LT.  The epoxy I am going over is West System. I plan to sand with about 100 and than wipe down with white vinegar or isosproyl alcohol and than use the Easypoxy White undercoater followed by about two coats of their Light Grey Easypoxy. 

For the boat, my plan is to use Burgundy on the bottom, and stripe the top edge of the sheer and strip the edges of the deck with this Burgundy Easypoxy.  I am wondering if it would not be better to Finish the deck and sheers with my Epiphanes Vanish and than due the stripping on top of this finish.  The Bottom with be Burgundy as well and I can put this over the epoxy after prepping it like the cockpit. 

Any thoughts of this plan?

Dan-Fl 


8 replies:

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RE: Easypoxy by Pettit, others experience

Dan,

I don't understand what it is that vinegar does to epoxy, but it turns it into something else..., something that doesn't have the characteristics of epoxy.  Given that, I'd recommend wiping the boat down with alcohol.  If the vinegar leaves a residue it might interact with later layers of epoxy.  Again, don't really understand this but I've avoided using vinegar to clean epoxy from brushes, pumps, etc., because of a fear it'll impede future epoxy applications.

The paint scheme sounds great - hope you can post pictures some day!

Larry

RE: Easypoxy by Pettit, others experience

Dan and Larry,

 

From what I understand, vinegar has 5 to 10 percent acid content. It is the acid that breaks down uncured epoxy. I use it to clean stuff and always have some around in case I get epoxy on my skin. (It happens).

Now, what effect vinegar has on cured epoxy, I'm not sure, but remember, epoxy is sandable after 24 hrs or so, but is still really curing for many days.

 I'd stay away from using it to wipe down a project under construction.

I've been lucky with water so far.

 

.

RE: Easypoxy by Pettit, others experience

I think that the spare hydrogen in the vinegar's acetic acid carboxyl group reacts with the epoxy group in the resin forming a hydroxyl. This then reacts with another spare hydrogen to from water. These 2 reactions poison the resin's ability to crosslink and to adhere to substrates.

Real chemists please jump in with any necessary corrections.

Moral of the story -  the guys are right, don't use vinegar to get rid of sanding dust.

Laszlo

RE: Easypoxy by Pettit, others experience

Fully cured epoxy is remarkably unreactive stuff.  Vinegar would be just fine to wash it down, I'm pretty sure.

Surgeons even use epoxy to glue stuff together inside your body where it will be washed with solvent for half a century.

Vinegar does dissolve uncured epoxy however, but it sounds like that is not relevant to your case.

 

RE: Easypoxy by Pettit, others experience

Picked up your interesting comments ~ have taken note.

I have another, different question, to do with Epoxy and would appreciate your comments.

I'm in the very early stages of building a Chesapeake 16 and decided to go for the West System Epoxy.  On receiving the consignment (not cheap) I noticed that the yellow tab sealing the boxes (105/206 A&B Packs) had the words "Use by November 2009" printed on them.

As we all know, it's December 2009.  I have contacted (by email) West in the U.S. (I live in South Africa) who, to their credit, replied within hours saying that it "should" be OK to use the batch, but referred me to Wessex Resins to distribute this product to Africa.

I  subsequently emailed Wessex, but no reply yet so thought I'd post the question. I'm a bit concerned about the "should", considering one puts many hours of labour, and quite a lot of cash into a boat-building project.

RE: Easypoxy by Pettit, others experience

Dave,

 

If you don't get replacement from Wessex or for whatever reason you are stuck with the epoxy you have, test it out - mix properly - stick some test strips together - wait 24 hrs and try to break the joint.

 My bet is that the stuff will be just fine. Even if you find it has crystalized, warm it slightly and the crystals dissapear.

I have open containers of East System and MAS that are 5 and 6 years old, and are as good as new.

 Just test and go.

 All the best,

Mac

RE: Easypoxy by Pettit, others experience

Thanks Mac

I'll wait for Wessex (they are in the UK) to see what they have to say.  Will probably contact the South African supplier as well. But he is on Christmas break till 3 January.

We have a very small market here and importers often push their luck !

If all else fails, then I'll do what you suggest.

Dave

RE: Easypoxy by Pettit, others experience

Guys, don't use vinager on epoxys. Use a 1 part ammonia to 10 parts water. Thats the best solution to prep epoxy. Then use the Easypoxy Undercoater and then your Easypoxy

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