I just shaped my first board and now the glassing begins…ive been looking into solarez instead of traditional laminating resin. is solarez a good idea? does it have any benefits over traditional glassing or any drawbacks?
I hear it is whiter and you can control the curing by staying in the dark until you tuck your laps etc…
Tom, Solarez (or suncure) works very well. Using it you are not racing the catalyst as you do with regular resin/mekp laminations. Take your time. Get your laps right. and exposed it to sunlight or a tanning/ultraviolet lamp and it cures in about 3(+) minutes. It’s supposed to be a little bit stronger than regular mekp resin too. I’d just say take your time, but not so long that the resin starts to drain from the cloth too much. The biggest trouble I had was with getting the board out of the shed to expose it to sunlight. But the savings of time needed to be able to flip it and start work on the laps and the next lamination is worth that difficulty. It will also cure in indirect sunlight - but slower. best is to block all sunlight from it while working ( use only regular indoor lights) and then expose to direct sunlight. Drawbacks… if you expose it, and then notice a hair or bug or dirt. there is probably no chance to get the gunk out of the resin. I love this stuff - if it could only be made not to stink so much it would be even better… but a UV epoxy is still to come. EJ