epoxy quantities

I just finished a bottom lam with 1 layer of 6 oz S cloth and a large patch over my fin box. It was a 9-9 noserider, 23 3/4 wide. Tried to get by with 32 ounces total (24/8) using a 3:1 mix, with 10 cc. Additive F. For the first time I heated my resin in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Heating it really thinned it out and I wish I know about that tip earlier. Anyway, back to the lam quantity. This was on a green foam poly, US Blank (former clark people). Without hardly any dripping the floor, I soon realized I would come up short and had about 50 percent of my rails still dry. Had to mix up 4 more oz to wet the rails, which is always a pain in the ass to do after the fact.

So, In counlusion, I needed 36 ounces to do it right the first time. I’m doing 2-6oz S cloth on the deck and going to mix up 44 oz total. Just so much easier to have a little extra and waste it rather than to have to play catch up in the middle to the job.

I applaud those of you who get by with so much less, but it just ain’t happening here. An extra $20-$30 bucks spent on resin to prevent dry lams on a board is just a price I have pay in order to do it right.

Hope this help those of you who are just getting into epoxy.

I feel your pain. I glassed a 10’ board out of #2 eps unsealed. Took me 26oz. to wet out 1-6oz layer for the bottom. Hardly any went on the floor. You can get away with a bit less resin if you wet out your rails scraping from the center and catching the runoff into your bucket. It is awkward at first if all you worked with was poly resin. I think RR epoxy is a 2-1 mix ratio, not 3-1.

Most of the people using less are using a combo of sealing and using a vaccum bag. That is how they are skimping on resin. Avoid skimping on resin with your hotcoat. Nothing sucks more than fisheye.

I recenly had a similar experience. I was using 2 lb EPS and thought I’d skip the sealing stage. I used more epoxy on a 6’9" with a single layer of glass than I did on my 6’4" with two layers on 1 lb EPS that I had sealed with spackle. I will ALWAYS seal from now on.

I’d say you still did a lot better than me and your using eps. I’m using poly blanks.

I’m not using RR. This stuff is from US Composites. The med is a 3:1. But I’m going to order the fast next time which is 4:1. Having a hard time contacting RR.

I do pull the resin off center and catch the runoff in the bucket, but there was very little on this attempt.

Here’s a couple of tips I found very helpful.

  1. Flip the laps over onto the deck when you’re wetting out. That way you soak the rails without a drop going to the floor.

  2. Use a 3" roller and roll the laps. It’s really easy and sure beats the hell out of having resin dripping down your sleeve!

Flipping up the cloth sounds like the hot tip. May be a little hard with 6oz S cloth because it’s real stiff, but I’ll find out latter this afternoon when I do the deck. Will post the results.

Mahalo!

If you’re ever on Oahu, call me up and you can come by and see how at least one guy does it with somewhat less resin. No roller, brush, flipping or other irritating machinations. Two hands one squeegee. Honest. Check you PM for my number.

Does anyone have any experience with resin quanities and marko foam. Does anyone still spackle these? I am using 6 oz cloth on 6ft boards. Basically i would just like to hear that yeah, these boards dont need to be spackled and still use little resin. At least thats what they look like.

I’ve done tons and continue to. I spackle most for showroom purposes, as most shapers rip a lot of beads out. Some really freaky anal shaper might be able to get a fairly clean finish that would look smooth w/o spackling, but you know how EPS is. They don’t drain/blow too bad unspackled, but even Twink cheater coats all of his, and he’s very accomplished at this stuff. I’ve never had delam problems with spackle, and personally would rather spackle than cheater em. I’ve just had a shaper ask me not to spackle and don’t have a problem with that, as long as it’s a well fused blank, which the Markos are. Shrug.

im gunna say a few thing from personal experience

my epoxy glassing has got progressively worse as ive learned and adopted poly techniques from sways

basically they just dont work that good for lightweight epoxy layups

im going back to simple boat building techniques

heres some good advice

use double 4 oz not 6

you will find you get extra strength with less work and no extra weight

the weave uses half the resin to fill on the hotcoat and wont fish eye or pinhole anywhere near as much

also you can get a lower resin to cloth ratio and still fill the weave on the lam

seal the blank first

mix up small batches of warmed resin and carefully and slowly apply bit by bit with a spreader or roller

use a roller or brush to do the laps

you can do one layer then roll on a second layer of cloth and smooth it out

it will start to wet through

and then touch up the dry spots

the resin wont kick fast when its on the board so dont rush or panic

use cheater coats for the hotcoat

if your going to sand before hotcoat do a cheater with micro balloons first

on a shortboard I can do 1 side single 4 oz lam with under 150 grams thats about 6 oz i think

100 gram hotcoat

when i glassed my plain eps fish the other day using 6 oz cloth and an unsealed blank

the thing just drank resin

and it was bitch to get a good hotcoat

you have to sand the shit out of the weave to get the hotcoat to go on smooth

extra unnecesary work imo

actually i think i got ripped off on my foam

i oreder 2 pound eps but

ive glassed it 6.6.4 and you can still press it in a bit

it springs out again though

i just thought it would be tougher

is this normal for 2 pd eps??

i cant press in a compsand at all

I glassed my first EPS board made from a Segway/US Blanks blank which is supposed to be 2lb with RR and two 6oz on top and one 6oz on bottom. Admitedly with no post curing but this came out pretty easy to dent although there is initially a bit of spring when pressing before a permanent dent occurs. Going over to 3 layers of 4oz top and 2 layers bottom and angling the cloth and trying S cloth and maybe post cure on the next one. Unfortunately no RR Epoxy coming into the UK untill end November so I have been told today. I have less than a thimble full left so should be able to glass a 6 inch shortboard with that.

Hey Bammbamm,

I going to take you up on that. My wife’s going over at Xmas, but I can’t stand Oahu at that time of the year. My brother-in- law in graduating in July. You’ll be hearing from me.

Silly,

use double 4 oz not 6

I was just going to ask others with experience with 4 oz S cloth. I still have a lot of 6 oz left, but I think I’ll save that for single bottom layers and put 3 layers of 4 oz on top instead of 2 layers of 6. I think that will save a lot of problems.

mix up small batches of warmed resin and carefully and slowly apply bit by bit with a spreader or roller

use a roller or brush to do the laps

How many small batches do you mix up on a longboard deck? 2-3? very interesting.

you can do one layer then roll on a second layer of cloth and smooth it out

Don’t you find it difficult to lay and smooth out the cloth on a wet and tacky surface?

This works well …for me…I have a 24" wide ,shallow “bucket” from a painters supply. I pre-cut my glass for the board I am doing, usually do cut laps. When the glass is on the board after being trimmed,I roll it from nose to center,from tail to center. Put the glass in the clean shallow pan, be very neat and careful with the glass. I measure out how much epoxy I will need…1 to 1-1/2oz per foot of board or cloth,little less than double for 2 layers ect. Wet out the glass in the shallow pan…carefully transfer the glass to the center of the board…and roll the wetted stuff to the nose and tail, squeege it out to get the excess resin and tuck the laps ect. Come back in a bit to cut the laps. Obviously not good for production ect but works well for me and little to no hassles,everything gets wetted out. I do the same thing when vacuuming on my skins…pre-wet glass,apply…put on pre trimmed skin…tape down in a few spots…bag it. Usually hand lam the outside layer. Have fun…

yeah even more

maybe do first layer of 4 oz with two batches one for the deck and one for the laps

the cloth will be fully wet but the next layer of dry cloth will go on sweet

that will start to absorb excess resin and wet through

so you can mix up another batch and contiue wetting that out

you might find you use a lot less resin on the second layer

you can work like that as many layers as you want for at least an hour

if you have a slow hardener

dont even need to heat the resin

ut it does wet out a lot better if you do

just rember it will kick in deep cup

after you mix it in a cup

pour it in to a shallow tray

this will give you extra time

i tried the poly method with on the eps board i just built

bucket,heaps of resin and squegee route with epoxy

and i think its not a very good and extremely wasteful method(not to mention heavy)

also stressful ecuase you got to get that large mass of resin out quickly or it will kick in the bucket

completely pointless for epoxy resin imo

applying prewet cloth doensnt always work fo me though

its hard to get the wrinkles out

I don’t seal boards that are supposed to be heavy. I just do a piss coat before I do the real hotcoat. The thinned resin before the real deal gets in and seals up so the hotcoat is less likely to be pinny and stuff like that.

If I seal for a light board, I skip that and hotcoat it like usual except for basting my bottom lap and fin boxes.

lay both layers of cloth on the board. roll the top layer half way back on the board pour / smear resin on top half, roll the cloth back out flat. Now do the other half same way. instant wet out of two layers of 6 oz. Now pour resin over the top like the regular wet out. No need to do it in patches or whatever.

i can build four or five compsands with a 5 litre kit

and no drips or mess

by not doing it that way!

thats about 18$us per board for resin

Yes, do give me a call. I’m not super conservative, but then I use a tiny bit more than I need to just to speed things up. At a certain point, the time’s worth more than the resin. Remember, I do this FOR A A LIVING. I’m sure if I had something to prove and all day to prove it, I could get by with a freakishly small quantity of resin. As it is, I don’t do too bad. Look forward to hearing from you. If I’m not flipping burgers by then. Oy Vey!