Marine Epoxy cure time

[radar]

New floor is well under way. Wood is cut. Just making the last tweaks.

 

What is the working time of Marine Epoxy?

I understand the heat disipation/cure time concept but I can't find anything to tell me even a range of how many minutes I have to work.

3 minutes? 10 minutes? Working in a hot humid garage with a lot of air flow.

 

Planned on using a few cut pieces of 1/4" ply or masonite as my "squeegy" and a few disposable brushes standing by for the edges. Any problems with this?

 

Thanks in a advance.

[blaque]

I just did a repair (not on a boat) the other day and with the suggested amount of hardener per ounce of resin....i think the working time was like 10 or 15 minutes. Again, it all depends on how much hardener you mix.

 

Think i remember it was 12-14 drops of hardener per ounce of resin?

[radar]

I just did a repair (not on a boat) the other day and with the suggested amount of hardener per ounce of resin....i think the working time was like 10 or 15 minutes. Again, it all depends on how much hardener you mix.

 

Think i remember it was 12-14 drops of hardener per ounce of resin?

 

 

Thanks. Wish I bought the pumps - I am going to try and do the ratio by weight.

 

I'll be doing a test run too

[Fisherman]

New floor is well under way. Wood is cut. Just making the last tweaks.

 

What is the working time of Marine Epoxy?

I understand the heat disipation/cure time concept but I can't find anything to tell me even a range of how many minutes I have to work.

3 minutes? 10 minutes? Working in a hot humid garage with a lot of air flow.

 

Planned on using a few cut pieces of 1/4" ply or masonite as my "squeegy" and a few disposable brushes standing by for the edges. Any problems with this?

 

Thanks in a advance.

Are you using marine epoxy or polyester resin? Big difference. Epoxies will give you a cure time on the container, anywhere from 5 minutes to 24 hours. Resin on the other hand can go from 10 minutes(like auto bondo) to an hour or more, depending on mix, humidity and temperature.

[F7Firecat]

Fisherman hit it bang on,

 

Epoxies and polyester resins are two totally different animals to mix and use.

 

Another thing, working with epoxies or polyesters isnt the easiest when it comes to hot days like today, your working time will be reduced drastically, make sure you do it in the shade as if your using glass it will bubble on you if in the direct sunlight. Cooler days would be better.

 

The cure is a chemical cure so air does not affect curing, its all temperature related, so the only thing air flow is good for is ventilation.

 

You should be able to find out the pot life of the material which is your working time if it is epoxy. If your using fiberglass resin use close to the reccomended amount of catalyst, you can cut back on the catalyst but cutting back on the catalyst too much may leave you with problems as it may not cure propely and be soft.

 

A trial run is always a good thing.

[POLLIWOGG]

Save yourself a headache and get the pumps. If you want a longer work time you change hardener not the ratio. Work in small batches if you have to and one mixing while the other lays it down helps. Foam brushes are handy but they fall apart fast so get a bag full. I would use a regular brush and wipe down with a foam one. Lots of stir sticks and anything else you can think of, last thing you want to do is go looking for stuff once you get going.

 

When you get done you can come help me cover my old canoe if I ever get it ready.

[cisco]

Follow the instructions on whatever it is you bought. You can buy slow or fast acting epoxy resin and as stated above the temps will affect cure time.

But if you're using the kind of epoxy resin available at marine supply places, epoxy gives a long working time but needs to be slooowly mixed for 3 minutes. Then I'd suggest pouring into another cup and mixing a bit more since in the tiny corners of the first container the resin and hardener won't mix and the end result may have some small sticky spots. The stuff I get is from a marine guy and it takes at least 15-30 minutes to start curing, so epoxy is more worker-friendly than the polyester resin.

[radar]

Thanks again folks. I'll be using epoxy and I bought the slow hardener. My gut is telling to follow the advice with the pumps so i'm off to buy em.