Looking for some advice from some of you epoxy resin repair pros.
I just finished redoing the whole bottom of my Jensen 17 and should have used my tried and true method of covering the wet stuff with Saran wrap.
Instead I just used it on the ends and took someone elses (from here on P-net) suggestion and used waxed paper for the flatter portions.
The saran wrap sections came out perfect, but unfortunately the wax paper developed air pockets as the mix hardened, and now I am left with a lot of very tiny cross ridges rather than a perfectly smooth finish.
I am tempted to leave them just as they are since they are so small, but I can feel them when I run my fingers over them.
The question : will this affect the speed of the boat?
Thanks in advance,
JackL
Epoxy Ridges and Speed?
Short answer: Yes, they’ll ~ add half again to skin friction compared to a new hull.
Long answer, read John Winters The Shape of The Canoe, Chapter 4; Hull Resistance, a. Frictional Resistance.
Hey Jack, how big an area are we
talking about ..... basically the whole 'belly' of the bottom ?
Great thing about epoxy is it will cure hard ( if mixed right ) in unbelieveably thin cross sections .... so if you did have to sand / do over even lots of small areas, the plastic trick with some quality squeegeeing will really help 'fair' those spots and you will never know they were there. Gotta' have the squeegeed resin edge or wave under the plastic sort of run out right @ the edge of your touch up spot's edge nice and thin. If you decide to wetsand the whole thing with plans on buffing it out, please call me first as it is not a good idea.
Not sure what the job looks like but you might just consider taping nice and neat right @ the waterline or a little over then doing a second coat all over. Pull tape just, just before epoxy will not flow anymore and watch a perfectly cosmetic bead form right at the edge ..... you can leave it or hit only this tiny area starting w/ 600 to fair in.
Forgot to add ...... YES it slows you down.
My vote is
to sand the area in question then clean the bottom of boat with a tack cloth then evaluate the effected area’s and decide to either redo or sand again and pick the area that looks/feels the worst. I would not sand to take off lots but to smooth out the ripples.
Second thought paddle the boat and see how she runs. then sand out accordingly. This might take several months of work so to heck with the work habit and work on boat the boss is sure to understand. (I’m retired so you see the mind set here) Time is relative, I think. Keep us all informed. While you are there take care of all blems then you have almost a new boat.
The boss in this case
is the bow paddler, and I think her vote is along with your way of thinking
We both worked on it together, so I must be her fault, not mine!
cheers,
JackL
I resurfaced the fuzzy bottoms of two
whitewater decked boats by rolling on West epoxy. I did not bother trying for a smooth surface… I just let it harden with a mild orange peel surface, and then I smoothed it easily with my variable orbit sander.
However, I have some doubt as to the long-term effectiveness of this resurfacing. I am fearful it will flake off when subjected to the considerable distortions inherent in hitting rocks in whitewater.
saran wrap wrinkles…
No expert here but I’ve seen the saran wrap mentioned before…this seems to float or wrinkle especially when the resin heats to cure. If you go this way I think wax paper would be better to withstand the heat. Vaccuum bagging with nylon cloth better yet as it pulls the epoxy thru the weave of the cloth and you won’t have all the hassels of re-doing the job next season as your epoxy “blob” chips away.
Just the opposite
in my case.
I used the saran wrap on the ends where the bow comes down to meet the bottom of the hull, and it came out perfect.
Used the Wax paper (for the first time) on the rest of the bottom and that looked good for the first five minutes, but then started to wrinkle and that is the portion that came out lousy.
I’ll never use wax paper again.
JackL
The rest of the story…
I resanded the whole bottom and put another coat on and it looks like I have a winner.
I am thinking that it probably needed two coats anyway, since this time it came out much better than before even if it didn’t have the ripples.
This time I rolled it out as thin as I could get it an didn’t use any covering at all.
It is still a little tacky, but I don’t mind if it takes a few days, since we are off for some kayaking tomorrow.
Thanks for all the tips and help.
I don’t know whether you relize it or not, but your tips and advice are indirectly encouragement as well.
cheers,
JackL