Chip, I have been seeing someone else… And her name is Paddle.
Glassing two paddles atm. Was up to 11am today babysitting RR epoxy since it was my first time using it.
Was doing cut laps and waited a couple hours for it to get hard enough to cut and when I checked it was too hard. I do have it in a semi-hot box type thing. Not sure how warm it is in there but it’s better than if I had it in the open air. So, after attempting to cut the tape out for a while I said screw it and went to sleep.
That meant a lot of hours this evening trying to cut the tape out of the fiberglass without cutting into the wood.
Benny, cooked 3oz of it using the coffee maker heater. It ran like water and set up while I was stirring it 
I just lost about 1.5 oz just now due to it setting up while still working. Of course this isn’t a board, it’s a small paddle with tight edges so you can’t pour it all out at once. Going to start going ultra small on my batches. Last one I did was 1.5oz and I stuck it in the freezer when I was done. Also didn’t heat it to “water consistency.” Not sure I have to with RR for this kind of application. Probably nice for a big board though.
Oh, also used stretch wrap as a poor mans vacuum bag and it came out rather badly. I think it might have caused some bubbles and it left dry and saturated areas as well as wrinkle texture. It might have helped the edge of the paddle stay tight though.
First impressions of epoxy, its not that much different than Polyester. It does give you a lot more time to work, no worries about it gelling on whatever you are working on. It looks nice, very clear, very shiny finish. Seems to be much easier to wet out and yet have a nice dry layup.
If you spill hardener or resin that hasn’t been mixed it’s very hard to see so you better hope whatever you poured it on is disposable. Can’t just use catalyst to make it harden though I guess you could wash it out pretty easy.
Not having to use acetone is terrific. Orange hand cleaner or antibacterial soap seems to wash it off very easily.
So Chip, I haven’t even had a chance to read the boards really. My two fins are still sitting in the corner with a sand coat that needs to be sanded off and a nice new spray can of gloss is nearby. Maybe in between paddles I can get some sanding done. Going to do an all nighter again I think. My cousin leaves monday and only one side of the blade of his paddle is glassed. Wish I had cable TV in the garage.
