Cap is off

[tartuffe]

That performance vc is a great product, painted about 4 coats with 30 minutes between coats and sanded down to my desired finish. Used a2000 for a primer because I had exposed fibers from my hull being in such bad shape. I sprayed a nice thick coat, sprayed with black spray paint, sanded with and orbital sander with 120 grit and then block sanded the low spots until all the black paint was gone. Repeated that process 4 times to get a great fair finish. Probably not necessary to do that many coats below the waterline but if you paint above the waterline with a gloss finish completely necessary.

[jasoncooperpcola]

Good info Tartuffe! What Patriot discussed with me for repair is to open EVERY BUBBLE (>1000), sand with 120, give it a good wipe down, then fill with thickened epoxy, fair with 3m underwater epoxy filler, then paint.

[Kracker Jack]

hey Jason, are you using an epoxy system on the whole boat?

[jasoncooperpcola]

Kracker, I am purchasing epoxy resin from US Composites to do the stringers, transom closure, and bracket. I will either use Interprotect 2000E or coat the entire bottom with epoxy for a barrier coat. I should be able to add fillers in to the US Composites epoxy for fairing. Heck even all the paint will be epoxy, Interlux Perfection and VC epoxy. I just hope my wallet can support all this.

[tartuffe]

Looks like just a bad case of gelcoat blisters. Personally I would sand with something a little more aggressive like 80 grit, wipe down, spray several coats of a2000 (4 or 5 coats) since you don't need to sand between coats the more the better and skip the part where you fill with thickened epoxy. I found that thickened epoxy and even epoxy resin with fillers can leave itty-bitty pinholes that are a real pain to fill.

That A2000 is some REALLY thick stuff that will need to be thinned 25% just to begin to get it through a gun with a 1.8 tip and forget the internal filter screen. The nice thing is that is puts down a thick coat to fair that adds a second layer of protection under your performance VC

[tartuffe]

One thing I would research if I do it again is vinylester. I never dreamed I would have gone through 21 gallons on epoxy on this project. I would still use epoxy on some items but my larger layups like the stringers that soaked up gallons in one layup probably could have been done with vinylester at a huge savings.

I overbuilt as well so you can probably get through with half as much. I'm 11 months into this project and almost ready to put the cap back on.

[Kracker Jack]

Originally Posted by tartuffe

One thing I would research if I do it again is vinylester. I never dreamed I would have gone through 21 gallons on epoxy on this project. I would still use epoxy on some items but my larger layups like the stringers that soaked up gallons in one layup probably could have been done with vinylester at a huge savings.

I overbuilt as well so you can probably get through with half as much. I'm 11 months into this project and almost ready to put the cap back on.

Which was my point exactly. Vinlyester is a great product to use. I used oily because I was on a serious budget. Buy vinyl is great for what your doing.