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Re: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
By:Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K
Date: 10/14/2014, 8:30 am
In Response To: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass (Yoshi)

I just noticed this on the hull of one of my wife's boats. Looks like thousands of tiny cracks in the epoxy.

https://picasaweb.google.com/orvitt/2014KayakProblems?authkey=Gv1sRgCNLA4f7f3LfM2wE#

Boat is 14 years old
Hull only
RAKA glass and epoxy
Always stored indoors or in the shade

This boat has not been babied, pretty much every launch and landing in Maine involves a lot of rocks but it also has been well maintained and carefully stored. I have older boats that don't show this kind of wear, but is this somewhat normal?

Should I just sand it down and give it a skim coat of epoxy?

Thanks
m

Looks like plywood stitch-n-glue? The pictures, are these only on the hull bottom? Is the hull bottom flat?

A flat hull bottom will continually flex and this will stress the glass lay-up.

How was the inside sealed? Epoxy? Epoxy & Glass? Epoxy, Glass plus one fill coat?

If the interior surfaces have not been sealed to balance the moisture permeability of the exterior you have a leak in your ziplock bag. I'm going to guess moisture has absorbed into the plywood causing more expansion contraction of the plywood core.

Moisture and flexing over time create damage.

Little white marks, if they are inside the lay-up, show epoxy failure.
Glass has broken away from epoxy creating a white micro void.

Rob

Messages In This Thread

Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
Yoshi -- 10/13/2014, 7:34 pm
Re: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
Bill Hamm -- 10/14/2014, 12:06 am
Re: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 10/14/2014, 8:30 am
Re: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
Yoshi -- 10/14/2014, 2:43 pm
Re: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
Jay Babina -- 10/15/2014, 7:43 am
Re: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
yoshi -- 10/22/2014, 4:15 pm
Re: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
Mike Bielski -- 10/15/2014, 8:58 am
Re: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
howard -- 10/17/2014, 12:36 am
Re: Seeking: Help-Epoxy/Glass
Bill Hamm -- 10/17/2014, 10:05 am