BYYB Forums

about seven years ago i built my first boat. a 12 foot sailing skiff. my intention was to build a row boat that i could take my kids out for family outings on. the plans just happened to come with instructions for making the boat sail. i had never been on a sail boat before and did not no anyone who had. needles to say it was my entrance into this hobby/sport and now i have built 4 boats and 3 of them sail.

during my first build, i had read on the internet (pre-byyb) that epoxy was the goo to use when glassing so i ordered some from raka and went to it. i had an awfull experience with it. when it wasn't coming off too soon for me, it was too slow(bad mix). there are parts on that original boat that are still gooey to this day, seven years later :oops: . needles to say i swore off the stuff and when i became familliar with stephens projects boats i followed their recomendations and used vynilester reson. i have loved that stuff ever since.

years later i am building a vacationer and aprehensively using epoxy for the entire construction of the boat. i feel like perhaps i have kissed and made up with epoxy (why can't i open mouth or my move my lips??) but am not really interested in risking having another eternally sticky boat. if i ever wanted to tear or peel the cloth, in this case, off of my first boat, is there a way to clean up the gooey mess that still exists on the hull? i shake my head every time i walk pased the boat. i bet the wood has been protected well enough but the paint moves around and cracks up because the surface underneath is verry fluid. it is kind of like having a protective coating of verry sticky grease all over the boat. :roll:

Yes Aaron. Heat a small area with a heat gun and scrape the goo off with a putty knife. You could also try vinagar if the stuff never went off. The acid cuts epoxy real well when it is still uncured. Depending where the offending glop is you might encapsulate it under a fresh coat of epoxy after removing as much as you can.

i am sure if i scrape it off i will still have a sticky surface. perhaps the vinegar will make the surface less sticky but with un cured epoxy saturated into the wood, would that not make it hard for the new epoxy to bond to the wood? or does the vinegar lift the old epoxy out of the pours?

once again this blasted site crashed while i was posting! good thing i started copying the text before submiting 8) i am the un sinkable ahab the arab!!

Get all you can off Aaron then wipe well with vinagar then acetone or lacquer thinner. After it dries apply the new poxy. The new coat will kick what is left on the wood. Make sure to get all the vinagar off or it will contaminate the new coat. Wash with fresh water and wipe dry, then clean again with the thinner and allow to dry. Be sure to measure the epoxy and stirl slowly but well. Make small batches of a cup or so so it doesn't get away from you. It should take for ever to cure this time of year unless it's inside. In Fla this time of year it would take two or three days to cure a 1-1 mixture. I think you are using 2-1 with Raka, yes? 1-1 can be eyeballed but 2-1 or 3-1 must be measured pretty close or you will have problems with it curing.

I've been using Rakka 2 to 1 my whole build I used to measure it out with lines on some cups. but did that so much so far that I can pretty much eyeball it now and so far(luckily) it has all kicked off good.I'm glad you mentiond that Aaron I will be cautious of my mixing when I flip her over.
Thanks.
Brian.

Brian when you mix the same size batch you get to where you can do that. My batches are usually 1/2" oz or so. I pour to the marks printed pictures on the little paper bathroom drink cups. Aaron has been using poly so he needs to acquie the knack if you will. You going to be done by BEER?

brian, i would not worry too much because, :oops: well.... :oops: i must confess... :oops: i think i mixed 2 parts hardner and 1part reson :oops: after i ran out of hardner i still had almost a full gallon of reson. :oops:

BUT THAT WAS 7 YEARS AGO and fortunately i have repented since. i have been rieligious about my measurements but i don't profess to know what a person can get away with. perhaps the mixture problem was just that i had too much saw dust in my eyes to be able to use a graduated mixing cup properly.

sorry i missed the chat craig, i did not see your message in time, i am 2 hours too late.

Unlike polyester resins, epoxy isn't very tolerant of ratio differences, though you still have to be careful. There's no easy way to fix a bad batch that hasn't kicked off. Scrape of the bulk of it, after which use solvents to get as much as you can, then gum up a bunch if sandpaper grinding down to clean wood again. It's not an uncommon issue with novice epoxy users, we've all done it, the braver among us actually admit to it (the first sign of healing).

ok ok well there was that time that I painted straight resin my boat I forgot to put the hardener in, Heck I even stirred it up and couldent figure the next night why it wasn't dry :roll:
there my soul is clean.

Brian.

we have all done it. Some of us twice.