Fiberglass Fubar

[Fletch170]

Guys,

Laid up my last deck hatch with 1808 this weekend, making them much stronger. However, during the last hatch, the Kerosene heater ran out in my garage, and the temp dropped down to about 60. It was several hours later until I found out. I refilled the heater the next day, and cranked the temp up to 80. The resin will not kick off. I'm stuck with a really sticky mess on my hands. Any advice?

-Fletch

[slvrlng]

Polyester or epoxy?

[Fletch170]

I was using west system epoxy.....but I ran out. This may be the issue. I then switched to the 3M resin...and I'm not sure of this is epoxy?

[slvrlng]

I would think that the 3M is polyester as I don't recall ever seeing 3M epoxy.
What did you harden the 3M with?
How long had the epoxy layers cured before the poly went on?
Poly usually will not set up when placed over epoxy unless the epoxy is totally cured and sanded and even then it might not cure. The main thing is the poly doesn't have much adhesion on the ploy other than a physical one (sand scratches).

[Fletch170]

Crap.

I used the 3M right after I put the West system down. So, Any idea how i might fix this mess? The west system kicked, and the 3m is just a sticky mess on the top.

[gw204]

Grind it off.

[slvrlng]

Scrape off what you can and then get a gallon of acetone and start taking off the 3M. Let the epoxy sit and cure and then sand and use more epoxy. Make sure the epoxy is fully cured!  Sorry for the bad news. It might eventually kick but I don't think you will want to wait that long.
When I was painting cars the paint store forgot to add in the dryer part of the paint mix with some acrylic enamel. Even though we had hardener it did not cure at all! 5 gallons of lacquer thinner later and a 20 pound box of rags and two helpers from the paint store I finally got it repainted!

[slvrlng]

Grind it off.

I think it would just clog up any grinding attempts at the sticky point of cure its in now. You could try it of course it would be faster!

[Fletch170]

Well......it seems like this is going to be fun. As 1/4 of the 1808 was wetted out with the 3M.

Anyone have a spare port deck hatch for a 170:)

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[Group W Bench]

Fletch,

At this point, you may as well try getting the half kicked resin to go off. Try mixing a hot batch of polyester resin kicked at 3.5 to 4% Mekp by volume. Roll or brush the hot resin over the half kicked stuff and hit it with a hairdryer for half an hour or so as it kicks. The combination of the exothermic reaction of the hot resin kicking, combined with the heat may allow you to get the half cured goo to kick off enough to at least grind back down to the fully kicked epoxy. You ain't grinding through the half kicked  goo as it will clog the discs in a new York heartbeat.

The putty knife, acetone and rag remedy is a slow row to hoe, and should be your last resort.

[seabob4]

There will be no grinding of semi kicked material.  Imagine grinding fudge...

[Fletch170]

Hey guys!

Went home and pulled the damn 1808 right off the hatch....it wasn't easy, but it's off. Thank god.

I learned a very valuable lesson.....use quality products. I don't know what everyone's opinnion is, but I am really liking the epoxy resin. Also, my garage doesn't smell like a meth lab.

The west system stuff is great, but holy crap is it expensive. Anyone have a good alternative? US composites?

Take a look!

http://fletch170.blogspot.com/

[wingtime]

I've had real good luck with MAS Epoxies.   Keep in mind gel coat will not adhere to epoxy.... nor will polyester resin.  Epoxy of course will adhere to anything.

http://www.masepoxies.com/

[dirtwheelsfl]

i dont know how much shipping runs to PA but raka makes some excellent stuff at a decent price.

http://www.raka.com/index.html

[LilRichard]

Live and learn!

My biggest takeaway is don't ever mix polyester and epoxy in laminating sequences.  Epoxy will always bond to cured polyester, but polyester will never (properly) bond to epoxy.  Mixing them while not kicked is also a no-no.

The meth lab smell you got is just good ol' polyester resin.