By Alaska4Me - 8/18/2018 1:26:33 AM
Hello,
I am re-coat a canoe. I've done this before and all went well. But, this time I think either the surfacing agent was bad or I misapplied it.
It’s been a week since I applied the gelcoat. I applied 3-4 coats with a roller. Each had the correct amount of catalyst in it and was well mixed. The final coat had the surfacing agent in it, but I fear here is where I messed up. In prior gelcoat jobs the surfacing agent was clear, but it cooled it would turn “cloudy” — I assume the wax coming out of solution. This stuff had huge bits of wax floating around even at 75+ degrees.
The surface is "hard" in the sense that it isn't tacky, but I still get tiny amounts under my fingernail if I pick at it. It looks fine until some water gets on it and then it “spots” where the water touches it. After the water is gone the original color returns. I’ve attache a photo.
What are my options at this point? Would covering it with wax work? If I can find it, would PVA work? Or, do I need to sand? If I have to sand, how much? (I ****really*** hope I don’t have to remove all the new layers.)
Thanks so much for any advice.
Sincerely,
Samantha
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By Warren (Staff) - 8/20/2018 4:36:06 PM
It might be worth checking with the supplier to make sure you aren't doing anything obviously wrong.
Your MEKP catalyst ratio sounds a little high to me for a very warm environment, but again that might be fine if you are using a certain MEKP for your gelcoat.
Speak to your resin supplier before you consider sanding off the gel. You never know if you've missed something or you just need a bit more time (albeit unlikely).
Remember if your wax additive hasn't worked properly as you suspected, large parts of the gelcoat surface open to air, will be cure inhibited and tacky so adding acetone is likely to make it more tacky/messy and doesn't really tell you anything about the gelcoat below.
You might find the gelcoat has fully cured away from the surface, in which case you can sand through the tacky surface layer down to hard resin which can then be smoothed out and polished back up.
However, this is all best guess at the moment - hopefully a chat with your supplier might clear some of this up or at least give you a clear path forwards.
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