Thanks Sharkcountry,
Work and tempreture got in the way hence the delay between lamination and hot coat.
Im going to sandown and try again.
For future reference, I will need to do lamination/hot/gloss all with in 24 hrs of each other ideally?
No, just do the filler (hot coat) soon after lamination. With epoxy there is no “hot” coat. Hot coat is a term used for making the polyurethane resin cure faster. With epoxy, you need to use a specific hardener to make it cure fast or slow. I used to buy the fast and the slow hardener, but I just buy the slow hardener now. In Hawaii the temps are usually near 80 F so the resin cures faster than in temps that are lower. I’ve glassed in 90F but you need to work faster, so the slow cure gives me a little more time.
I used to lam with slow cure, then use the faster curing hardener for everything else, but I would always end up with extra hardener. The resin I was buying before is hard to get right now, so the extra hardener is useless. Always get the same brand of resin/hardener combination, or test before mixing different brands. Epoxy can be a pain if you don’t do everything right.
Prcess is lamination followed by filler coat then sand filler coat smooth (you may need more than one of these coats) then gloss coat last. Sand all the shiny spots out before the final coat of resin. I’ve made boards that were laminated then fill coated, but I didn’t get the finish coat for a while. Just make sure the board is ready for the final coat. I’ve made boards that had a terrible fill coat and I only smoothed it out a little then rode the board. Had one I put up in the rafters for years, then decided to make it look nice and smooth. I sanded it all down and layed a new coat of resin on. Then I use a scuff pad like 3M scotchbrite and buff out the blush. I don’t make boards for others, so the finish is not as important to me. The way the board rides is all I care about.
Another thing I do is after the fill coat is dry and not tacky, I will put the board in my car and let it bake. It can get over 100F but not hot enough to damage the board. That is a simple heat cure. The resin gets the full cure that way. I think it sands better. Some people have heat boxes to do the same thing. I left a board in the sun once and forgot about it, it turned into a balloon and delaminated. In used that board for a while, but eventually ripped the delaminated side off and redid it.
Making mistakes is sometimes the best way to learn. Expensive, but you won’t forget those lessons.
Hey man,
Really appreciate all the advice! Some of this info is pure gold,
Just wondering as this is my first board when i sand down this fill coat thats gone wrong, how far would you go down just above lamination layer?
(I have only done a fill coat on the deck so far as I could tell it was going wrong)
or If this was your board would you just chuck it in the bin?
Thanks
“Two cups of Additive F”. ??? That would be enough to do it right there. You got as much Additive F in it as you have hardener. Everyone keeps talking about contamination, oily hands, compressor oil etc. Additive F is full of Parafin.
I wouldn’t chuck it and sand it to just above the lam if you can then re-hotcoat. Make sure to cross stroke the resin thouroughy with the brush otherwise it won’t flatten as well.
Hey man, take a deep breath!! I know the feeling, im a rookie as well ive made about 7 boards start to finish now and ive have not found something I wasnt able to fix. I have not glassed with epoxy but to me it looks like your lam kicked too fast and it left you with cross strokes from your brush. I would just sand everything flat and hot coat it again. Sand it down until it is flat/smooth or until you see the weave of the fiber glass. If you see foam you’ve gone too far.
Long story short, even if its ends up ugly… it will surf and thats all that matters.
Hi all,
Just a quick one, I have sanded it down to fibreglass, will clean it down with denatured alcohol and try the fill coat again,
Cheers