Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

[Boomyal]

Well I continued to have problems with my epoxy resin, annoyingly bubbling up. I had been applying it with a roller, from Home Depot, specifically for Epoxies. Of course every time it cured, I'd have pits in the epoxy after sanding off the bubbles.<br /><br />I just put a final coat on my motor mount stringers and it was bubbling up again. I got the bright idea to try tipping the resin with a brush. Low and behold, it wiped out the bubbles, they did not reappear and the resin flowed out nicely.<br /><br />I don't know whether there was a reaction with the roller or just a physical interaction causing the bubbles. The roller is definitely a good way to spread the resin, especially on vertical surfaces. So the moral is, just TIP it when you are done.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Thanks for the ‘tip’... <br /><br />Btw, I just ordered a gal of 635 and med hardener. Did I get the right critters? Which hardener are you using and what is the time to cure to a point of sanding? And your working temp?

 

[Catchem]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Nice idea Boomyal and how is that project coming along.

 

[Indymike]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

18rabbit, thats the same stuff I'm using and it's pretty much an over night cure. 70ish here in Indy. Plenty of working time. Almost too much.<br /><br />Mike

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

18R, thats the right stuff. We're running 50's nite to 70's days. I like it because it gives you lot's of time to work the resin but you have to get it out of the tub, and spread out, within about 20 or so minutes.<br /><br />Once I've finished working the stuff, I put a space heater in the boat, on a timer, and set if for 4 hours and it will be dry even on a dampish cool nite, covered of course.<br /><br /><br />Catchem, it's been slow. I'm too much of a perfectionist. Hopefully, by midweek my 'secret' drainage material will arrive and I will be able to screw and glue the floors down and pour the foam. My new 331 cid motor is ready at the machine shop. All I need to do is paint it, attach the accessories and reinstall it. Maybe two weeks till ignition. A far cry from my original July 4th completion date. Oh well, there's next year.

 

[cc lancer]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Boomyal:<br />In one of your previous posts did you say you were using Composite 1 for your foam, and how much "open time" do you have from mix to pour?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Originally posted by cc lancer:<br /> Boomyal:<br />In one of your previous posts did you say you were using Composite 1 for your foam, and how much "open time" do you have from mix to pour?

I haven't poured yet but according to the instructions, 20-25 seconds to mix and 20 seconds to pour. Pretty tight window, it seems. A previous poster advised to mix no more than a half quart each (one qt total) per pour. Full expansion is supposed to take place within 15 to 20 minutes. If you are going to continue to add, then you want to re-pour immediately after full expansion.<br /><br />I've drilled out one inch plugs, every two feet and as I have the motor out I'm going to try to jack the bow up about 5 feet before I pour.<br /><br />I'll post pictures of my setup once I get to it.

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Originally posted by Boomyal:<br /> Hopefully, by midweek my 'secret' drainage material will arrive and I will be able to screw and glue the floors down and pour the foam.

That wouldn't happen to be disolving rope now would it?<br /><br />Aldo

 

[cc lancer]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

I would strongly suggest you call them and talk to them, about what your are doing with their product.<br />It was about 90 degrees when we were doing the entire bottom of a boat, and If it had not been in sections it would have been a disaster. Fifteen seconds to mix with a big paint mixer in the boat and pour immediately. Instant foam, from mix until it was over was no more than 60 seconds.<br />Bad news...If you pour in to much foam it can lift the floor up, composite 1 is the best you can buy, the top name builders her in NC use it and as soon as it sets up its so strong you can walk on it.<br />Suggestion....mix a small batch and see how much it expands, then try to calculate how much foam will be needed to fill the void.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Originally posted by Dunaruna:<br />

Originally posted by Boomyal:<br /> Hopefully, by midweek my 'secret' drainage material will arrive and I will be able to screw and glue the floors down and pour the foam.

That wouldn't happen to be disolving rope now would it?<br /><br />Aldo

Bingo! Ya got a good memory, Aldo. I already have all the appropriate holes drilled thru the bulkheads and stringers to lay the 'rope'. I'll post pictures of the network once in place.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Originally posted by cc lancer:<br /> Fifteen seconds to mix with a big paint mixer in the boat and pour immediately. Instant foam, from mix until it was over was no more than 60 seconds.<br />

cc l, are you saying that it started to foam as soon as you started to mix it? I'm aware of the possibility of 'popping' the floor, that's why I drilled the one inch holes every two feet, for each bay. <br /><br />With the bow jacked up as high as I can get it, I would start at the back, pour in the foam and wait for the foam to rise beyond the hole, sticking in a plug as it does. Then I would go to the next hole up the line and do the same thing letting the foam excape from the last hole as it wants too.

 

[cc lancer]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

We didn't have any time to waste. I put the 2 chemicals in a small bucket, and mixed with the paint stirrer, by the time I climbed into the boat the bottom was getting warm, I poured it into the section and it started raising up, and when it stopped, it had billowed up higher than I wanted it to. And it is a pain in the butt to cut it down to the height you need.<br />Maybe the high temp. made it "kick-off" quicker, I just don't want you to go to all the trouble to put down a floor and see it lifted up, that why I suggested calling C-1 and talk to them. They may have different products with more open time, and here in NC they are really nice people. The boats I have seen with the plugs, have been foamed by injection, the 2 chemicals are sprayed out of a nozzle, and are mixed together as they come out the nozzle.<br />I have a 28 foot Bayliner that needs new stringers and foam, so I will be interested in how everything works for you.<br />Hopefully soon I will have the outfit to do foaming, one of my friends has a unit he want to sell, and if we can get together on the price I am going to buy it.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Thanks for all the heads up CC L. I will call before I pour, plus I will mix a small sample batch, to see how it reacts. I do know that heat will make it rise quicker and higher. With temps in the mid 70's here, I might get a little slack.<br /><br />When the foam reached it's peak expansion,(before curing) was it still soft and maleable? In other words, was it still capable of of getting into the nooks and crannies and out the relief holes as it neared it's peak?

 

[cc lancer]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

As soon as it starts to cool it has started to harden, next day you can walk on it. We tried numerous things to shave it to the height I wanted.<br />Number on the Resin: P14080R<br />Number on the Isocynate1001U..[Good Ventilation required]<br />You said you were going to raise the bow 5 feet, are you intending to pour in one end and let it run to the other end?<br />Do you have a picture of the area you are going to fill?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Originally posted by cc lancer:<br /> Do you have a picture of the area you are going to fill?

Here's the picture CC L. There are 4 bays. Two full length, on the outsides and two in the middle forward of the gas tank well.<br /><br />My floor panels are cut and treated AND cored with one inch holes, every twenty four inches starting 24" forward of the stern. I have two holes for each center forward bay. (each 4 ft long) <br /><br />The side bays are probably about 1/2 cu ft volume every one foot length. I will be glueing some plastic bottles in to give me some margin. I purchaced 8 cu ft expanded and my total area calculates out to 8 cu ft.<br /><br />

 

[Catchem]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Looking good Boom ,but don't rush,you got all next year and more.And keep posting the pics as you go.Love it when a plan comes together.

 

[phatmanmike]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

i remember the disolving rope....... hows it working out?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Originally posted by phatmanmike:<br /> i remember the disolving rope....... hows it working out?

That's all that is keeping me from buttoning up the floor. They tell me they sent it out from MN on Monday. It should arrive by this Monday or Tuesday. I've already drilled all the passage ways thru the stringers and bulkheads. I double coated all of the holes with CPES, then coated them with epoxy resin. I used a new PVC glue dauber to get the CPES and epoxy into and thru the passageways that the 'ropes' will go thru. I also installed a brass drain tube in the forward bilge bulkhead. I will keep a thermos style plug in the hole while operating the boat then just pull it out when the boat sits on the trailer.<br /><br />I'll post pictures when I have the network glued in place. I need to get it done so I can foam the floor. I think next week will be the last opportunity while the temps are in the mid to hi 70's.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

What is dissolving rope? Web link?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Solution! Just in case yer all laying awake at night...

Originally posted by 18rabbit:<br /> What is dissolving rope? Web link?

Heh, heh, 18R. You'll just have to wait for the pictures. Ok, it has to do with hull drainage.