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Epoxy: nightmare... Foaming Epoxy Latte'
By:Malcolm Schweizer
Date: 4/6/2003, 7:05 am

Here's the scoop. I was using 6oz on the hull with a precoat that had dried for a week, and was sanded with 100 grit and wiped down well with a wet rag. (Later in the story we learn adhesion was definately not the problem). Temperature was 78 degrees.

I layed out the glass and smoothed the cloth over the hull, and got all my supplies ready. I mixed about a cup at a time of West System. I poured it on the hull and worked it around with a squeegee. I noticed that the glass was taking a little time to absorb the epoxy, but it was going clear. I got the entire hull wetted out, but kept noticing that there was a hazy appearance to the epoxy. It didn't seem to be the weave, it appeared to be the epoxy. When I went to scrape the excess that was when I realized that the epoxy was foaming at the surface. The epoxy that I scraped was coming off like skimming the foam off a latte. It was frothy, and left white streaks everywhere. I tried adding some resin to see what would happen, and to see if maybe it was the weave I was seeing, but the froth remained. Every time I spread out the epoxy it would do this. I did have one tiny spot do this on the clear coat, but it went away as it cured, so I thought maybe this would be the case. I let it sit as I consulted Nick's and Ted's books. I didn't see anything on Epoxy Latte Froth, so I decided to do the safest thing... yank off the cloth before it dries and start over. That was a nightmare in itself, as the epoxy had cured to a point where the cloth almost did not want to come off. I had to pull with all my might. The resin under the cloth was perfectly clear. It appears it was just this foaming thing at the surface causing the problem. The cloth seemed to be saturated as well.

So what happened? I think one or both of two things:
1.) It had rained all day, and maybe there was a mist in the air that I did not see, and perhaps moisture was collecting on the surface.

2.) Too fast of a cure time. It only took about 2 hours to cure to an almost dry state.

I'm a little bummed, but I'm not too upset because now I have this nice thick undercoat with a cloth texture to it. I will sand it down some, but it did make a really nice final fill coat.

So what are your thoughts? Do you think it was moisture? I'm going to have to do some test strips now because I'm really worried about next time.

Messages In This Thread

Epoxy: nightmare... Foaming Epoxy Latte'
Malcolm Schweizer -- 4/6/2003, 7:05 am
Re: Epoxy: nightmare... Foaming Epoxy Latte'
Jay Babina -- 4/7/2003, 10:58 am
Re: Epoxy: nightmare... Foaming Epoxy Latte'
Malcolm Schweizer -- 4/7/2003, 7:12 pm
Re: Ditto
Rehd -- 4/7/2003, 12:28 pm
Re: Epoxy: nightmare... Foaming Epoxy Latte'
Jack Sanderson -- 4/6/2003, 12:18 pm
Re: Epoxy: nightmare... Foaming Epoxy Latte'
Malcolm Schweizer -- 4/6/2003, 6:23 pm
Re: Epoxy: nightmare... Foaming Epoxy Latte'
Rob Macks -- 4/6/2003, 11:34 am
Re: Epoxy: nightmare... Foaming Epoxy Latte'
Malcolm Schweizer -- 4/6/2003, 6:15 pm