Vertical stripes

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TGould
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 1:28 pm

Vertical stripes

Post by TGould »

We applied out first coat of epoxy and after it set up we could see where we stopped and started. The applications were timed, we put lots of epoxy on and smoothed out as per all the info instructed, but after it setup you could see them. Any ideas?
AlanWS
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Shorewood, WI

Re: Vertical stripes

Post by AlanWS »

It's hard to be sure, but sounds like what can happen if you don't maintain a wet edge. As you apply epoxy, it soaks into the cloth and to some extent, the wood. At the edge where the cloth is wet by epoxy, as it spreads into the dry cloth it thins out and covers less well. As long as you continue adding epoxy while this is still liquid enough to mix and displace all the air, you wont see the line. But if the edge has begun to thicken so it doesn't mix as well with the newly applied epoxy, you sometimes can see the edge by fine bubbles or something more subtle.

I don't like to rush, so prefer a very slow setting epoxy. It requires longer between coats, but makes it easy to maintain the wet edge. Really thin (non-viscous) epoxy also helps. System Three clear coat in my experience is the easiest to apply for the wetout without any such marks. But a thicker epoxy is preferable to speed the fill in coats.
Alan
aliguori
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2012 10:05 pm

Re: Vertical stripes

Post by aliguori »

I just finished epoxying for the first time so my experience is limited. However, after the first coat, as long as the stripes aren't very thick, it should all get evened out by the third coat.

I found that you have to squegee pretty aggressively during the first coat. I still had some lines but I found that a very light pass over the lines after removing the excess epoxy would flatten the lines out pretty well without introducing new lines.

Are the lines where the edges were or where you squegeed? If it's where the edges where, perhaps it was too warm in your workspace and the epoxy set faster than you expected it to.
TGould
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 1:28 pm

Re: Vertical stripes

Post by TGould »

Thanks for your input, yes we cranked the heat up in the shop and perhaps didn't apply enough pressure when wiping off the epoxy. This is canoe one of three, so we are looking at getting better as we go along.

Cheers
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Glen Smith
Posts: 3719
Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Re: Vertical stripes

Post by Glen Smith »

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