Actually, the uncured epoxy is supposed to secure the core material on
the inner skin of the cored deck. Therefore, it is structural. I
check it this morning, and I find that the area is still bouncy. I
expect that the area should be rigid enough with the combo of the inner
skin, the epoxy, and the core material; but it is not. This means I
cannot expect it to provide any structural support as a deck is
supposed to do. That is not good.

On the other hand, you are right -- removing the uncured epoxy is going
to be a messy job. I think I will give it one more week to see if will
be cured by then -- hopefully.

Jay Chan


Brian D wrote:
Unlike the others, I'd vote for trying to get it to cure. A coating on a
deck is not structural, but just for sealing and abrasion resistance. I'd
try heating up the shop/deck/boat (whatever is easiest) to about 80 F or
even higher and keep it that way for a few days. It sounds to me like the
cure is progressing, but as others have mentioned, it may or may not cure to
the final hardness that you want. I don't think that's a big deal if it
gets reasonably hard and you put a couple of fresh coats of epoxy over the
top of it ...definitely easier than trying to remove it. Consider this:
Even your mostly-cured epoxy is harder and tougher than most plywood plies
that people are protecting with epoxy ...why not try to cure what you have
and then protect *it* with more layers of epoxy?

Brian D


wrote in message
oups.com...
I would like to get some opinions on whether I should remove partially
cured epoxy in one large area of my deck.

Due to my failure to follow instruction in mixing epoxy and failure to
do a test batch before using a new type of hardener, I had not
thoroughly mixed the epoxy long enough when I installed the core
material onto the deck. The result is that the epoxy cures very very
slowly:

- After one day, I felt that the epoxy was still wet.

- After three days, I still could use my thumb to dent the epoxy.

- After ten days (today), it is solid enough that I cannot use my
thumb to dent it; but I still can use my finger nail to dent its
surface. And I definitely cannot sand it yet.

What should I do?

Should I wait another week or so to see if it may completely cure? I
can afford to wait because I can do something else while I wait; but I
am not sure if the epoxy will be strong enough even if it is seemingly
cured.

Should I remove everything and start this over? Unfortunately, this
will be very labor intensive to remove the partially cured epoxy.

The epoxy is from MAS and the hardener is MAS slow hardener. The brand
name may or may not matter.

Jay Chan