Everything was clean I can assure you. I have no surfacing agent, only epoxy for my hotcoat. For the lam, I did use soap and water has told in the previous post, but it was done on the bottom, not the deck so it should not have made that mess.
I really don’t know what to do. I think I will have to bring my board to a shaper I know to ask him to hotcoat it for me 
Don’t give up! Get some surfacing agent!
It is sooo long to sand the hotcoat with an orbit sander, I will have to buy a polisher/sander instead because I really don’t want to do it over again with a random orbit sander…really painful.
Will surfacing agent make that much difference considering the extent of the problem I have ?
"new painers rags"
probly contaminated
try white paper towels
show use your mixing buckets
if their waxed paper,,,, not good
preclean the plastic type with alcohol or acetone
always glass in moderate temps and low humitity
do not use surfacing agent thats for poly,, bottle looks similar
definetly a very bad case
power sand till all dull
quick wipe with paper towel nothing else
shoot the hot coat
That is exactly what I did, and why I don’t want to try it again since I don’t understand what went wrong. Painters rag was for the first attempt and was brand new unused piece of cotton, yesterday I tried Paper towel. The mixing bucket was bought at the same place I bought my Epoxy so It was really meant for mixing epoxy. Last attempt I tried a brand new Mason Jar.
It’s really a mistery problem !!!
well then my guess is that theres contamination in the lam, and you just may be doomed
My friend that is not "Fisheye" ...That is TOTAL incompatibility!
"It is sooo long to sand the hotcoat with an orbit sander"
Is this sander electric or air powered?
If air powered you have contaminated the lam with oil from the sander...
SInce the lam has sat for so long it is surely cured so you MUST sand the entire surface...
Make sure your sandpaper is not wet/dry with silicon base.
I have had that happen a little on the bottom of a board when hot coating the top...because that area was not sanded or prepped.
Unfortunately I think you also were too sparing with resin.
Sand that bastage again...AS Resinhead said...the entire surface must be sanded dull.
USE ONLY SOME CLEAN WHITE PAPER TOWELS AND DNA to wipe it down....
MAKE SURE IT IS DRY.
Use at least 200 to 250 ML of resin mixed. No squeegee just a good clean NEW brush.
I feel your pain and it has to be frustrating... Good luck..think where the contaminant came from..
Good Luck
Damn. I can’t believe I will have to scrap all that.
I used electric random orbit sander.
For the tip “Make sure your sandpaper is not wet/dry with silicon base”…how can I know that ?
I’ll sand it over again this weekend probably and prepare an hotcoat with additive F that I just bought online.
For my bottom that has not been hotcoat at all until now, what can I do to avoid getting fisheyes and sanding hotcoat 2-3 times like my deck…the bottom is on lam coat for now ?
Some people told me to avoid DNA in previous posts.
Thanks
soap???
start again
no rags, no soap, no water,no dna, no hands on it
tape your stands every time. use plastic bags that you wrap your lunch in to pick up the board
laminate and then let cure ,clean up laps, brush on fill coat. sand. brush on finish coat and sand
there is argument over the lam to fill coat stage that some people do it before the lam is cured and others do it after and sometimes if they do it after the lam is cured they scrub it with white scotch brite or 80 grit paper.
masking tape will remove grit from a board
At this point it seems there is something keeping that hot coat from stickin'!
It is generally not necessary to clean the lam with DNA but I usually give mine a quick wipe just to get the dust and then brush with my dry brush.
I hope the rag you used first time around was not fatally contaminated with something..
Times like these I am sure I am not the only one that has that feeling we could be there to help so we could get a look at it close up.
Others said not to use it but..DNA is the only solvent I would use...
It appears your problem could be from "blush" but at this point I am just guessing out loud..
Are you using RR resin? or some other brand? Some resins have high Amines and result in a "blush" rising to the top. Usually is only a problem with cheaper resins or when glassing in cool temps..
HAs to be removed with sanding and DNA.
Additive F will surely help but is not a fix all.
THe bottom will have to be lightly sanded ..150 on a foam pad and then .wiped down.
that is what I would do...so good luck ..keep us posted..
the problem is water and soap id say
I’ll probably try DNA + additive F for next try.
I use a “cheap” epoxy made here in montreal. I know 2 friends that had succes with it with no particular precautions. For soap and water like I said, it was only used on bottom and my fisheyes are onthe deck.
I’m wondering if I could have a bad batch of epoxy? I noticed that it is very long to kick, it stays wet for more than an hour.
i dunno how millions of people have been using west systems in boat yards and backyards and sheds in all weathers and climates for the last 30 years without DNA and additives or soap or washing or whatever. a mystery!
ive never has this seperation and i have used many different brands of epoxy resin in temps as low 10 degrees and when its raining.
Just to keep you up to date, i’ve tried 2 times the hotcoat of the deck without sucess, i’ve tried the bottom yesterday with additive F. It works !!!
I just don’t know if the additive F was the solution, or just that the bottom was not “contaminated” with something that was on the deck. My next try will be the deck again with additive F. I’ll keep you posted !
P.S.
Is it normal that the tape doesn’t stick at all on the hotcoat ? I have to sand where I want to put the tape, otherwise the 233+ is falling on the ground.
Howzit simon, I really can't help you when it comes to epoxy but I can with the tape. Seems like the board surface has some kind of contamination. Is the epoxy cured? If the epoxy is cured but feel waxy or oil like slick then the tape won't stick. 233 + tape should stick to anything. try scruffing or sanding the tape area but I am wonderiing about appying the next coat over that surface( Epoxy guys can step in any time) and how it will turn out. Does the tape fall off after you apply the epoxy or just won't stick to the board,How long after applying epoxy does thee tape start falling off?. Aloha,Kokua
Sounds like maybe a bit too much Add F? Or maybe you didn’t shake the can and got more wax than you should have?
I know people bark at this suggestion, but I’ve been using the regular crepe tape for epoxy. I think it sticks BETTER than the green and it’s a lot cheaper. Just be sure you pull it as soon as it stops flowing, when it’s at that tacky but kinda rubbery stage.
I put the tape on the rails for the hotcoat stage.
The tape doesn’t stick on epoxy that did not have additive F. Each time I did a coat (hotcoat, or lam coat) the tape would not stick after it was dry. The surface always felt like greasy. I don’t know if it is normal. The epoxy is hard, but greasy.
I didn’t try yet on epoxy with additive F. I was just wondering if it could give some clue on something that was wrong in my process, and maybe would explain some problems.
Finally, my problem is solved !!!
With ADDITIVE F on my hotcoat, I fixed my enormous fisheyes problem. And also, the epoxy is no more greasy and is really hard when dried so the tape sticks well. Here are some pictures:
[img_assist|nid=1054349|title=Bottom|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=435|height=640]
[img_assist|nid=1054350|title=Deck|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=276]
