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 Post subject: fixed soft spots
PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 7:47 pm 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:45 am
Posts: 103
Location: Missouri
Hey, I finally fixed the soft spots on the sides of the hulls on my h16. I used the west system and learned a lot. One thing I found out was NOT to use the slow hardner, I lost a lot of epoxy which ran down the hulls, I did not turn the hulls on their side. I had the hulls covered with masking tape which kept it from making a real mess, but sometimes the epoxy went through the tape covering the drill hole. I also had to drill a couple of screws to pull the glass back together, one word of advice if you do this is to go real slow If I used the screws again I would probably screw them in by hand! The hulls are now solid and I attempted to touch them up with gel coat. I ran out of the plastic to go over the gelcoat and used some plastic wrap, Big Mistake, they did not cure, so I had to scrape about 50 small pieces of bad gelcoat off and redo it, this time I used waxed paper, it worked well. I also discovered that if you use a very small artist brush , size 0, 00, or 1, to put on the gelcoat it works great! A dot will do a lot! One question I do have is if will the epoxy keep out the water if I don't have gelcoat on a couple of spots? Now I am going to wax her up and put her away till spring. See you, John :D


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 6:57 am 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:18 pm
Posts: 14
Location: Lima, OH
bannanahead.....what hardned did you use and did you use any fillers? I am going to use west systems to fix a spot on my hobie and was just curious


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 Post subject: epoxy hardner
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 3:14 pm 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:45 am
Posts: 103
Location: Missouri
I used the 206 west System hardner, since I was working in 90 degree weather and I used the 404 high density filler. Make sure you get the pumps, they make it a lot easier, and cover the entire area with masking tape, 3 inch wide tape works well.

Now I have discovered another area I missed that is delaminated which I need to fix, just when I getting ready to put the boat in storage.

So now I need to order more epoxy, hardner etc. I did find some bondo epoxy that I had in my shed, but I figure it would harden too fast to work in syrenges, anyone ever try bondo epoxy to inject to fix delamination?
Later,
John :?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:32 am 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:33 am
Posts: 57
Location: Ontario, Canada
I have used the Bondo epoxy, but not for a delamination fix. I like the Bondo product because it is good value for the money. It is a little thicker than the West System stuff, and the pot life is less than an hour at room temperature. If you want it to flow better (depending on your local climate) I found that warming the resin and hardener in a hot water bath PRIOR TO MIXING works really well - but shortens the pot life (working time) by about half.

As for the question re: epoxy being waterproof without a gelcoat covering? Yes, it most certainly is. Gelcoat is not truely waterproof - epoxy is. Most people have a tough time believing this, but it is true and widely known in yachting circles. Gelcoat, is quite inconsistent as a waterproofing material - especially for boats that remain in the water all season long.

In higher-end boats and yachts, the gelcoat is aggressively sanded after the hull is pulled from the mold. Then, several layers of Barrier Coat (thickened epoxy) are applied. Although expensive and time consuming, the Barrier Coat greatly increases the waterproofing of your standard gelcoat/fiberglass hull and minimizes the chance of osmosis/blistering.


Dave


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:08 pm 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 8:45 am
Posts: 759
Location: Clinton Lake Lawrence, KS
Hey Cap,

Is "Barrier Coat" just a term describing what it is, the last coat and a barrier, or is it the brand name of a product?

_________________
hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:24 am 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:43 am
Posts: 779
Location: St. Louis, MO
Barrier coat describes what it is. Each brand has thier own. You don't typically see barrier coat on beach cats.

_________________
Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO


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