I’m sanding the hot coat on my first Kwik Kick glass job right now and getting ready to gloss (thanks Greenlight Brian for the goods…). Can/should I lay down the gloss coat with straight-up Kwik Kick or should I use something else or modify the KK to thin it out? I also have some regular RR/fast at my disposal.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Bump. Anyone? I’m sitting here with a mixing stick in my hand…
2 cc AddF per oz. resin for hot and gloss coats. Same as regular RR2000. No need to thin it out.
I just glossed the deck on that little 5'3" that's been sitting on my glassing rack for a while now with 5 oz. total Kwik Kick.
I was concerned it wouldn't be enough due to the thickness of the resin but as I plowed the resin it flowed pretty nicely and made it to the rails no problem.
~Brian
Thanks, Brian. I glossed both sides last night. Heated the resin for 15 seconds in the microwave before mixing with the hardener and F. Everything worked out pretty well except for a few rookie mistakes:
I shouldn’t be so stingy with the resin. I used 7.5 ounces for the 6’3" and probably could have used another ounce or so.
I should use wider chip brushes. I only had 2 inch brushes. I should probably go with 3 or 4 inch next time. This might help with mistake #1.
Now it’s time to get going with the 320 grit…
Surf looks good for tomorrow if you want to hit it…
For gloss coats I am using a 7" West System foam roller. I cut the roller in half. Now you have two pieces, one for the deck and one for the bottom. I use them like you would use a squeegie. It lays the resin down nice and smooth so there are no brush strokes to worry about.
thx,I will try that
I use the 4" natural bristle brushes. Lots of guys use the 3" ones, but for the nextra buck or two, the 4" brush means less strokes and a more even layer of resin.
I take 2 of the 3" brushes and screw a piece of scrap ply to them and make a 6" brush for my hotcoats,4" brushes are a ripoff.
I also want to partially fix some little holes and small fish eyes, probably from some contamination during the hot coat. I only have kwik kick. No additive, no wax.
Do you think I could sand the holes down and use a foam roller to add some kwik kick epoxy only on these spots? I don’t know if one can call it a gloss coat, as I will sand everything afterwards, but I am just concerned by the stickiness of the kwik kick resin, which may not work with a foam roller.
Or would you rather just use a brush?
I have to mention that I unfortunately have to work in a bit colder conditions (19° degrees celsius, 67° fahrenheit) but to my understanding this should delay the kick, correct?
should I still microwave the resin (not the hardener) to make it more liquid? (have not done that so far).
Thanks for your answers. Much appreciated!
I use RR Kwik Kick for all my glassing (but occasionally use Fiberglass Hawaii’s epoxy resin since they don’t carry RR, and if I buy from their shop here in Ventura I have to go with what they have). I use a foam weenie roller for most of my glassing, but I can’t say you could confine the roller to just the fisheye spots - the nature of a roller is to apply over a broad area. I do prefer some epoxy surfacing agent additive when doing finishing coats, but in a pinch you can go without IMO.
The adhesion or bonding qualities of the resin coat have more to do with the cleanness and tooth of the surface, than with the method of application, I assume that’s what you mean by “stickiness” - i.e. using a brush vs a roller won’t guarantee a better bond. As far as the stickiness of the resin itself, that is not affected by the means of applying it.
Cold weather means slower set-up time, and increased risk of fish-eyes and other issues. Def better to warm the resin, and warm the shop up while glassing, if possible. I just set the cup of resin in a pan of warm water to heat it up, and an elec. space heater for the shop.
I’m not sure what your comment means about not calling it a gloss coat because you’re sanding afterwards, as pretty much everyone sands and polishes the gloss coat. I call it a finish coat because epoxy doesn’t quite polish up as glossy as polyester resin (but it can get reasonably close), and with epoxy the resin mix is pretty much the same for all coats, other than no surfacing agent during the lam coat.
You can minimize risk of fish eyes by applying an uber thin coat of resin, and then mix up and apply the final coat once that starts to gel but before it hardens. But I still would try to warm the shop up.
Adding Xylene can help to thin epoxy if you are worried the warmed KK will be too thick to get in the pinholes. They sell it at Home Depot unless you’re living in a state where its banned
Would xylene thinned epoxy melt EPS?
just don’t exceed 2% and you’ll be fine