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Whilst glassing the hull of my kayak I have encountered a little problem. I have endevoured to spread the epoxy over the glass fiber evenly and firmly with a squeagy ensuring an even coat all over, yet have noticed a load of coin sized bubbles appearing all over the boat. I thought I could saturate them through on the second coat but didnt really help. Should I wait until the hull is completly cured and sand them out and then lay one more coat on or should I give the boat a third coat and sand them out last ? Please help.
4 replies:
RE: Bubbles on the hull
Thanks Dan.
It is actually air trapped underneath the cloth, as oppossed to the cloth floating on the epoxy, so it could be a temperature issue. Although the temp did not increase after glassing...
Annoying but anyway, i´ll sand it when dry then apply another coat. should do the trick.
oh well!!
RE: Bubbles on the hull
If you have air bubbles under the glass, sometimes you can slit them open with a sharp utility knife, then press the cloth flat when you add your finish coat of epoxy. If the cloth won't lay flat, cut it away and fill the hole with a tiny scrap of cloth and unthickened epoxy. It doesn't affect the strength of your hull, so no need to overlap the cloth. -Wes
RE: Bubbles on the hull
Sounds like the ambient temp around the kayak warmed substantially after you wetted out the glass. This will cause excessive out-gassing of the epoxy and the bubbles that you're talking about. You can inject epoxy into the bubbles to fill the void.
~Chris
RE: Bubbles on the hull
» Submitted by Dan Gralnick - Wed, 1/6/10 » 8:51 AM
Hi,
I experienced something similar when I glassed the cockpit and other areas less visible on my boat. I think it was due to the cloth "floating" and epoxy accumulating under the cloth. Due to my experience, when I did the bottom, chines, and finally the deck I was very careful to squeegy alot so your problem did not reoccur. I was successful. I am not sure you are decribing my problem however. Is there air in the bubble or just epoxy? If air just another issue. Eitherway, prior to your final finish, I would sand flat and move on. I don't think I would put further cloth over when you might sand thru. It might become a tail chasing contest.
Hope this helps. Another issue you might be dealing with is bubbling of the epoxy due to temperature issues, and I will let others comment on that who know more.
Dan