Using too much epoxy?

erikgreen

Captain
Joined
Jan 8, 2007
Messages
3,105
Hi guys -

My Sea Ray is coming along nicely. I just put the inboard stringers in, and I ran through a lot of epoxy. Between the putty for bedding them (with foam for the actual bed), laminating them beforehand, encapsulating them, and glassing them in with 2 layers of roving I've used about three gallons. Am I using too much?

Edit: These are a pair of 8 foot stringers.

Background: These are the main stringers for my 22 foot sea ray, they are 8 feet long and 9-11 inches high, made of 2x layers of 3/4 ply laminated together, encapsulated on all sides, then bedded on a 3/8 foam strip. I putty around the strip to create a fillet(mostly it just locks the stringers in place and spans the gap around the foam). I then glass with 2x layers of 24 oz. roving. The stringers are very solid. I will be covering them with a layer of woven cloth for a final cap this week.

Thoughts?

Gotta go order more epoxy.

Erik
 

sdunt

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
389
Re: Using too much epoxy?

If you don't have lots of it setting up in the pot, probably not.. But 2 layers of 24 OZ Roven plus cloth? What was in there before?

According my books, the cloth is stronger and uses less resin. But needs a layer of mat to make it water proof.
 

erikgreen

Captain
Joined
Jan 8, 2007
Messages
3,105
Re: Using too much epoxy?

If you don't have lots of it setting up in the pot, probably not.. But 2 layers of 24 OZ Roven plus cloth? What was in there before?

According my books, the cloth is stronger and uses less resin. But needs a layer of mat to make it water proof.

From what I can tell, the previous covering was about a 1/4" thickness of matting, possibly sprayed on with a chopper gun. The two layers of roving should be slightly thicker than this, and the cloth is just extra insurance (plus it looks nice). It's only 8 ounce cloth anyway.

I shouldn't need matting because I'm using epoxy, not poly resin, I think.

I'm trying to overbuild this somewhat since I expect it to take a fair amount of abuse.

Erik
 
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