: Folks,

: I just ordered my epoxy and fiberglass from Raka and wanted a little feed
: back on my glassing plan as well as on the use of their 5oz cloth.

Jack-

I used RAKA 127/350 (slow hardener) last spring/early summer in an unheated garage in New Jersey. I had some fast hardener left over from my first boat but never used it. I'm a slow builder, so setting time for the epoxy never seemed to be an issue. The non blush feature of the 350 was a definite plus, but probably not an issue if you don't anticipate long breaks in your work schedule. I often had to place the resin/hardener container on ice to gain enough working time. You may be a faster worker. Apply the seal coat when you have enough time to come back frequently to check for air bubbles (I had many bubble appear regardless of rising or falling temps). I used 5 oz outside with either 3.25 oz tight weave or 5 oz for 2nd layer in selected areas. The 5 oz glass is a little more difficult to work with compared to 6 oz. It takes a little more time and squeeging to wet out compared to 6 oz so you're going to appreciate the extra working time. It doesn't drape as easily as the 6 oz. There were some places where my cloth didn't want to comform to the shape of the deck and those were the places where the cloth floated and resulted in waves in the cloth. Other than that I didn't have a problem with floating the fiberglass. With judicious use of the squeege, even the 3.25 tight weave behaved itself. The weave on the 5 oz cloth can be easily filled with 2 coats (1 coat for 3.25 tight weave). I think I used about 4 fill coats with the 6 oz cloth on my first boat.

wes