Whilst glassing the hull of my kayak I have encountered a little problem. I have endevoured to spread the epoxy over the glass fiber evenly and firmly with a squeagy ensuring an even coat all over, yet have noticed a load of coin sized bubbles appearing all over the boat. I thought I could saturate them through on the second coat but didnt really help. Should I wait until the hull is completly cured and sand them out and then lay one more coat on or should I give the boat a third coat and sand them out last ? Please help.
Hi,
I experienced something similar when I glassed the cockpit and other areas less visible on my boat. I think it was due to the cloth "floating" and epoxy accumulating under the cloth. Due to my experience, when I did the bottom, chines, and finally the deck I was very careful to squeegy alot so your problem did not reoccur. I was successful. I am not sure you are decribing my problem however. Is there air in the bubble or just epoxy? If air just another issue. Eitherway, prior to your final finish, I would sand flat and move on. I don't think I would put further cloth over when you might sand thru. It might become a tail chasing contest.
Hope this helps. Another issue you might be dealing with is bubbling of the epoxy due to temperature issues, and I will let others comment on that who know more.
Dan
Thanks Dan.
It is actually air trapped underneath the cloth, as oppossed to the cloth floating on the epoxy, so it could be a temperature issue. Although the temp did not increase after glassing...
Annoying but anyway, i´ll sand it when dry then apply another coat. should do the trick.
oh well!!
If you have air bubbles under the glass, sometimes you can slit them open with a sharp utility knife, then press the cloth flat when you add your finish coat of epoxy. If the cloth won’t lay flat, cut it away and fill the hole with a tiny scrap of cloth and unthickened epoxy. It doesn’t affect the strength of your hull, so no need to overlap the cloth. -Wes
Sounds like the ambient temp around the kayak warmed substantially after you wetted out the glass. This will cause excessive out-gassing of the epoxy and the bubbles that you're talking about. You can inject epoxy into the bubbles to fill the void.
~Chris