balkan shipyards backwinded…...
hi guys, well I learned the hard way.
but life is a learning process and mistakes are the best teachers….
anyway I bought better epoxy for fiberglassing the hulls, then I noticed that it’s a non blushing epoxy.
then I messed up!
I think my basic mistake was that I was too late applying the fill coat over the fiberglass.
this stuff feels very clean once hard, no amine at all…. but I don’t know for sure, the salesman only knows the price of the stuff, technical data? no that’s not his job….. here in the wild east things are still kinda strange…..
so i assume the stuff is non blushing, then I continue with assumptions and say: ah, up to 24 hours I can apply second coat no problem….. well even 10 hours was too late.
at the moment, ama is done. vaka 90% done today will scrape off the rest. then a quick sand then a break to think things over…....
well, I grew up surfing and fiberglassing surfboards, polyester was my best friend. but epoxy is a totally different game. so can you guys tip me off, what really happened???
I attached my latest horror movie…
all d best.
p.s. the epoxy is a 2:1 mix, 33% is the hardner, now the hardner is blue and has a very strong smell I cant recognize…. the brand i don’t know as it gets sent to me in small buckets that say nothing. whats the blue stuff??? anybody know?????
Hi Rael,
So sorry about your mishap! I mentioned the latest drama at Balkan Shipyards in my video today…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRQTlTjiDxU&list=PLSrsRDO2_lCDoPuhIgWxFqyR1Ht6-9RcJ
Hang in there…we’re rooting for you!
All the Best and Cheers,
claudio
Ugh man… I feel for you… Keep your head up, and keep going at it though! 😊—And thanks for sharing the whole thing, I think a lot of us have learned something here; I think I’m going to be careful and really make sample pieces before every step, to try and avoid something like this.
Best of luck to you from now on Rael!
Cheers,
Marco
PS - I don’t mean to prod in open wounds here, but are there any epoxies that you can laminate over without sanding (and without peel ply) as much as 12 hours later? What I recall from the geougeon brothers the time for another coat of epoxy / laminate is like 2-4h with 24h epoxy (when it starts getting a bit tacky), but maybe I’m wrong, it’s been a while since I read those chapters…
...... are there any epoxies that you can laminate over without sanding (and without peel ply) as much as 12 hours later? What I recall from the geougeon brothers the time for another coat of epoxy / laminate is like 2-4h with 24h epoxy (when it starts getting a bit tacky)...
Marco,
I am using Compset 521 epoxy resin & hardener (5:1 mix) . Compset instructions says that after 48 - 72 hours, surfaces should be sanded…. I have done 24 hours which seems to be OK, but there is no way I would go near 48 hours, let alone 72. If in any doubt,whatsoever, sand the bonding surfaces.
Rob
Marco, exactly what Rob wrote is what I thought….. well my epoxy didn’t agree with my ideas.
anyway the way to go is testing and testing and testing… like you said Marco.
bottom line I’ve been messing with epoxy only for two years now, now my big problem is getting the good stuff at affordable prices.
here in the balkan mountain range hundreds of kilometers from any sea, my shipyard is definitely the biggest…...
all that comes down to me using what I can find, resulting in a new brand of epoxy every few months…. then add to that a bit of lac of experience and you have a time bomb ready to go off anytime.
anyway I learned the hard way, last night finally finished going over the whole ama with my orbital sander, the day before the vaka got done.
today the big clean up, then back to where I was, but wiser.
all d best guys.