Ian Malcolm wrote:
Jay Chan wrote:

You are saying that a bit less hardener (3-to-1 instead of 2-to-1) will
result with the cured epoxy to be a bit more flexible, and this may not
be a bad thing depending on the intended use of the final product.
This is interesting and is good to know.


Well epoxy works by the two different types of molicules each having two
reactive sites, one on each end. Its a chain polymerisation reaction.
When it gets to run to completion, it form *LONG* chains and sets pretty
hard. If there is an excess of one component, you get un-paired
reactive sites left over. This limits the chances of a long chain
forming and so you get a lot of short chains and a jelly like result.
Its more damaging than just the dilution the same amount of an in-active
resin would cause. I suppose that for a non-critical glueing
application like sticking down non-skid, a certain rubberyness *may* be
desirable, but I've always found that bad mixes are unacceptably weak
*and* I wouldn't want to risk the long term health consequences of being
around inproperly cured epoxy.

Thanks for the explanation why improperly cured epoxy is not good. I
will make sure I add the proper amount of hardener and spend enough
time to mix it.

Get out your scraper and a hot air gun and get it all cleaned off. If
its as badly off ratio and as poorly mixed as you say, 99% of it will
come off pretty easily. You wont be happy unless you've got rid of it
and fixed it right.

I am thinking of getting out a circular saw and cut the whole deck out
(as mentioned in another of my post).

N.B. treat the stuff you scrape off as toxic and wear gloves &
appropriate protective clothing. You'll be much happier *without* an
epoxy allergy for the rest of your life (and you'll save a lot of money
as *IF* you get an epoxy allergy, you wont be able to work with the
stuff again so will be paying a yard through the nose to do repair work)

I believe you are referring to uncured epoxy as being toxic like. I
will make sure I have proper protection when I start working on the
boat in the coming spring.

Thanks for the info.

Jay Chan