Fiberglass Question?

Question

yesterday I did some Fiberglass repair, Because of the size I only mixed 1/2 gallon at a time, this morning it is still soft in two areas about the size of a Doller each in two areas, should I remove it all and Redo it or is their something else I could do,

I am no newby to Fiberglass , I guess in my state of huriedness I Just didnt mix it well enough.

PS. 1/2 tube Cat to 1/2 Gal Res.

LOL 7 Gallon,s of Resin and this is my mistake.

Answer 1

Wow - I've never mixed that much resin at a time.

Mix a really hot batch of resin, put it on your repair, and put your project in the heat and/or sun.

You are using that Bondo kit, aren't you? I was trying to figure out what you meant by 1/2 "tube" of catalyst.... lol.  I've only seen catalyst come in a tube in those kits.  But anyway -- mix your "hot batch" by using twice the catalyst then recommended. Be careful and apply it quickly - but make sure it is mixed well.

That should work for you. If it doesn't, you might have to sand off your repair and start over.  I've had repairs that are still green (soft) in the morning, but harden up after a day. I had some old catalyst that didn't work well...

Answer 2

wth is fiberglass?

Answer 3

I'm with lyderslim and Peter. It sounds like you're using polyester resin, so the stuff is cheap. If you're working at the low end of the temp scale (if you're up north), give it a little more time. If it's still soft, rub acetone across the surface of the area that's soft, and scrape out the soft stuff as much as you can. You can then use an angle grinder with a coarse-to-medium disc and burn out the soft resin and glass, then sand and reapply. If you're REALLY feeling adventurous, mix a little colloidal silica, cab-o-sil or microballoons into the resin mix to fill up the uneven spots after you re-glass the patch within your patch. This will make your final sanding go easily- you won't have a bubble or a divot where you cut out the soft resin. Good luck!

Answer 4

poly is cheap,,compared to epoxy or vinyl,,but theres millions of huge yachts built with it,,so it being poly isnt ya problem,,,if your in the cold,,,give it 48 hours,,,and does your resin have wax in it?,,if it does and ya didnt mix well enough,,,,that will bring the wax to the top and stay wet for a few days,,,,rubbing mekp,,or acetone on it only harms it.,,wait for a few days,,and if not hard,,then grind out and redo,,and it musta been a BIG patch for a half gallon at once,,even if it takes that much,,,you should try to do in a couple of batch's,,,just remember to stay ahead of your "kick line"

ohhh,,,,if ya bought your resin from wal-mart,,,or it says evercoat,,or bondo,,,,it will take it 3 or 7 days to cure,,,the stuff suks.

Answer 5

half a gallon of resin? that sounds like a lot, must have been a big repair. It does sound like you didn't mix the hardener in well enough - that  is a pretty big problem. How thick is the resin applied? Was it used to wet cloth or mix with filler? What kind of repair (structural or cosmetic, with 1/2 gallon resin I'm guessing structural) What kind of boat (new old etc), and what level of repair are you looking for?

For one, you could give the resin a little heat for 24 hours and see if that helps it cure. Although its debatable, you could lightly rub hardener on the exterior however this really isn't a good fix.

If the resin isn't mixed and its layed up thick its possible that there are uncured spots below the surface too, in which case you need to grind it all off and start again.

But then its subjective, if it were me, and it wasn't a million dollar yacht, and it wasn't life or death, and I wasn't being paid to do a professional job - it was my boat, I wouldn't bother grinding it all off, I'd just grind of the soft spots.

edit -

For the record - polyester isn't great for repairs, its secondary bond has nothing on epoxy. If the boat is epoxy then it will hardly bond at all and you'll need to redo it.

Colodial silica is a very high density filler, though this will be more resistant to dents you will have a serious serious time sanding it and you will still need to run over the whole area with a low density filler to fill in the small gaps left by silica - I recommend using a vinylester filler for this (available in a tub - its green) as its great for small gaps and nicks. However, if it were me I'd certainly use a low density filler to fair the repair, that being what its designed for. I actually sometimes use a small bit of silica mixed with the low density (5-10%) to give the repair some rigidity but this would be unnecessary for a fairing job on a flat surface.

Answer 6

Yup, didnt get it mixed very good.....try mixing in smaller portions....that way you wont have to work so fast, and it wont flash on ya......to fix the soft areas, just sand them out and put new in, you wont have to start all over again..

try this...1 part Catalyst to 3 parts resin....mix until color is uniform,  If you cant mix it on your application board your mixing up too much at once.....