Thanks for reminding me that the epoxy will not reach full strength for
months to come. I will go easy on the area. From the slow pace that I
have been working on the boat, I doubt there will be a lot of people
standing on the deck any time soon. Oh well...

Jay Chan


Brian D wrote:
You're a patient man, Jay! I've been following along as things have
progressed and am very glad to hear that your epoxy finally made the mark.
Note that even properly mixed epoxy takes something like 2 months or longer
to reach full strength, approaching the mark in an asymptotic way ...90% of
the strength within a few days, 100% of the strength in a couple of months.
But either way, glad to hear of your good results!

Brian



wrote in message
oups.com...
After 45 days since I put the epoxy in place, the epoxy has _finally_
cured completely. Seem like those two very hot days in the beginning
of this week really helped the curing process. The outdoor temperature
of those two days was 97 degree+, and the temperatur inside the boat
cover probably was above 110 degree.

Just try to let people know in case someone runs into the same
situation as I was. Then he can decide whether he really wants to wait
that long for the epoxy to cure, whether he should expect his local
weather will help or hurt the curing process, and whether he should
work on something else while he is waiting for the epoxy to cure.

Jay Chan


wrote:
Actually, I counted the number of days wrong. I should have said that
now is 32 days (instead of 22 days) after I put the epoxy in place.

Jay Chan

wrote:
Now, this is 22 days after I put the epoxy in place. The epoxy is
definitely more solid than on late June. I feel safe to have my hope
high. The epoxy is curing very slowly. Luckily, I am working on
mounting an air conditioner next to my boat; therefore, time is not
wasted.

Jay Chan


wrote:
Yesterday, I checked the epoxy, and I found that it was noticably
more
solid than two or three days ago. I have a feeling that it will
eventually cure completely -- just very slowly.

I have contacted the tech support of the epoxy manufacturer. He said
that the epoxy mostly likely will eventually cure because of the fact
that the curing is progressing. More importantly, he also said that
the cured epoxy will have a good bond despite the fact that the epoxy
will take much longer time to cure than normal. Therefore, I will
wait
a couple weeks for epoxy to cure completely.

Jay Chan


Mik wrote:
If I was you, I'd wait a couple of weeks til it seems to harden as
much
as possible. Then, I'd start scraping. Sicne it hasn't cured
properly,
you can try a heat gun to soften up the epoxy before scraping.
Paint
scrapers, window scrapers, utility knives, 40 grit sandpaper. Try
everything, except a garden rake....

Seriously. Especially since this is structural, I'd be removing
all of
the epoxy, down to bare wood, and starting over. cured epoxy is
fantastic, but partially cured is a disaster waiting to happen.
Why
ruin a good boat over some bad epoxy??

Mike
Saskatoon, SK

wrote:
Thanks for pointing this out. Sound like I have a hopeless case
on my
hand. OK, I just have to treat it as a learning experience.

Jay Chan


derbyrm wrote:

I think there's some confusion between polyester resin and epoxy.

As someone else pointed out, with polyester, the hardener is a
catalyst/accelerator and the resin will eventually cure.

As I understand epoxy, it is the combination of the chemicals in
the resin
and those in the hardener. Too few of the hardener molecules and
you'll
never end up with actual epoxy, only with a slurry of cured epoxy
and
uncured resin molecules looking for their mates. It will not be
very
strong.

I'd suggest you start scraping.

Roger (sorry)

http://home.insightbb.com/~derbyrm

wrote in message
groups.com...

Glad to hear that there is some hope. OK, I will wait a week or
two to
give it a chance. Meanwhile, I can always work on something
else or go
fishing on a rental boat. If after two weeks my finger nail
still can
make a dent on the epoxy, I will remove it.