: 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.

: Questions on Epoxy Schedule

: I am working in an unheated basement that stays at a constant 65 in the
: winter and early spring so I bought a combination of slow and fast
: hardener. My plan is to mix the two types of hardeners to speed up the
: curing process a bit for steps that are not time critical. On my last boat
: I sometimes had to wait 2 days to get a decent cure before moving on to
: the next steps. Any advice on ratios to use. I had planned the following.

: Seal coat - half fast and half slow
: Glassing – All slow or maybe 70/30 mix to give me more working time
: Fill coats – All fast hardener
: Hatches and coaming – 50/50 fast slow mix

: Do I have to be more concerned with blushing when I use the fast hardener

: Questions on the use of the 5oz glass

: I was told to do a seal coat first and to be careful in my hand lay-up to not
: float the glass. Any tips on how not to float a lighter weight glass. I
: have some experience with 6oz so I assume it is not much different. I try
: to minimize the amount of epoxy in the wet out and then go back and touch
: up any sections that look in danger of starving the glass. This along with
: the seal coat seems to get a complete wet out without excess epoxy

: Any other tips on using this glass. My plan is to use one layer inside and
: out and to do some strategic reinforcing around the cockpit with carbon
: tape.

: Many Thanks,

: Jack

Just did the inside of my hull with 5oz and raka 350. I did not do a seal coat, 1st mistake. I used a squeegee only for pouring and spreading the epoxy. The 5oz is VERY slow to wetout and it is impossible to tell if the wood is getting enough or not before it is too late (seal coat would fix that). Next time if there is one (I didn't have any fun with the 5oz)I will use a 3" or 4" roller to wetout the glass after a seal coat. I have lots of waves in my layup, the outside of the hull did better, but I did a seal coat and the glass conforms easier on the outside.