I screwed up

[littlehero]

Hey there all,
After what seemed like an eternity I am finally geared up to start laying up new glass on my 15' Phantom. After the myriad of threads and advice I have read here I decided to start small and figure out what I am doing on an easy patch. There was a worn patch of inner hull under the captain's seat that had worked it's way through the inner most layer of roving. Small, and seemingly easy, it was about the size of a quarter. I sanded and sanded and sanded, opened up the wear to about double its original size. Then I scrubbed it with acetone and prepped two 1' square pieces of 1.5oz CSM and poured myself about 12oz of poly resin. This is where I went off the rails. Being paranoid of adding too much MEKP I put in three drops from a 1oz bottle and low and behold, it's not hardening. The < 65degree miserable Seattle spring isn't helping

So what do I do? Peel off the mat, scrub it down with acetone and start over? Or is there a way to salvage it?

Thanks

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: I screwed up

I may still harden. You can take it all off and just scrub, and then do some experimenting with your poly to see how long it takes to harden. make three little samples with different ratios and then go with the one you like scaled up. Now if it gets warmer you will have less time.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: I screwed up

Well for 2 sqaure ft of 1.5 oz matt your total weight of material is about 1.5 oz, and you need about twice the wieght of resin for it or about 3 oz of resin (being new you could mix up 4 oz and have plenty. Your MEKP is at 1.5% (varies per maker) But for 4 ounces of polyester resin you're looking at about 10 - 12 drops of MEKP per ounce so for 4 ounces (40 to 48) drops. Now the amount will vary with temperature...colder slightly more warmer slightly less.

The can it came in should have the rate on it. I'm assuming when you said you added 3 drops, that you mean per ounce, right? (total of 36 drops for the 12 ounces you mixed?) Either way, you're going to be cleaning this off and starting over, fortunately you started with a small area.

Be sure to read the MEKP amounts on the brand of resin you purchased.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=288451 #2 on this sticky has some great information for you.

 

[ajgraz]

Re: I screwed up

Hit the patch with a hair dryer. If it still won't harden then consider ripping it out and starting over.

And don't be so hard on yourself, starting with a small patch to work on your techniques is exactly the right way to go!

 

[cgd7777777]

Re: I screwed up

the hair dryer works great i did it on the bottm side of the deck one evening when it got cool as soon as the sun went down!
When i was working on the inside of the boat i just kept heat lamps on for light and heat i always seemed to be working on it about 10:00 at night
when i was done put the cover on and nice and toasty in there

 

[littlehero]

Re: I screwed up

Thanks all. The resin and hardener do both have charts but it's in Teaspoons for the quantity I was using and my wife wouldn't let me use hers so I eyeballed it.

Looks like I'll be pulling it all up. No worries though, what is it they say about what doesn't kill you?

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: I screwed up

Pick up a cheapy set of measuring spoons.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: I screwed up

A few suggestions if I may add .

1 oz is approx 40 CC

10 CC/qt of resin is standard ( unless its low VOC resin ).

1 teaspoon is 5 CC ( Enough for 1 pt of resin ).

For 2 Sq ft of 1.5 oz mat I think your going to need more then 4 oz.

Remember you have to resin coat the surface first..then your brush is going to absorb some more resin..that only leaves you with about 2 oz of resin left.

I recommend mixing 1 cup resin with not quite 5cc MEKP .. but more then 2.5 CC.

Just my 2 cents .

YD.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: I screwed up

A few suggestions if I may add .

1 oz is approx 40 CC

10 CC/qt of resin is standard ( unless its low VOC resin ).

1 teaspoon is 5 CC ( Enough for 1 pt of resin ).

For 2 Sq ft of 1.5 oz mat I think your going to need more then 4 oz.

Remember you have to resin coat the surface first..then your brush is going to absorb some more resin..that only leaves you with about 2 oz of resin left.

I recommend mixing 1 cup resin with not quite 5cc MEKP .. but more then 2.5 CC.

Just my 2 cents .

YD.

I was assuming the wood was already precoated....my bad for assuming.

 

[littlehero]

Re: I screwed up

Thanks guy. It was an internal repair of the hull so no wood to coat. However this formula is great now that I'm up to stringers.

Between Dad and I we got a running start at this thing.