Colouring epoxy resin

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rib

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Hi all. I'm patching up my dark colour Hull, the odd nick here and there mainly round the bow due to anchor nicks. I have mixed some acrylic paint into clear resin that has given me the required colour and set hard and glossy.. Before I apply it to the boat does anybody have knowledge or experience of its longevity?? Tia
 
Presumably you’re making repairs to the gel coat only so if I were you I’d be using a gel coat repair kit like one of these Buy Gelcoat Repair kits - East Coast Fibreglass . They offer RAL colour matching to your hull colour. Been using them for several years now, produce a very good finish. Wouldn’t use epoxy as it doesn’t do UV well.
 
rib said:
Hi all. I'm patching up my dark colour Hull, the odd nick here and there mainly round the bow due to anchor nicks. I have mixed some acrylic paint into clear resin that has given me the required colour and set hard and glossy.. Before I apply it to the boat does anybody have knowledge or experience of its longevity?? Tia
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Agree with post #2. Epoxy resin is not good at withstanding UV and you may have to do the job again in two years.

www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Can't match to colour chart or get it here in Turkey.. Boat was regelled ten years ago. Can polyester be tinted with acrylic paint ??. Its only a couple spots round bow, don't mind repolishing every year if I have to.
 
duncan99210 said:
Presumably you’re making repairs to the gel coat only so if I were you I’d be using a gel coat repair kit like one of these Buy Gelcoat Repair kits - East Coast Fibreglass . They offer RAL colour matching to your hull colour. Been using them for several years now, produce a very good finish. Wouldn’t use epoxy as it doesn’t do UV well.
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That ECF website is very good, but the one glaring omission is that there is no indication as to how to ascertain which shade of white, for instance, you require.
 
rib said:
Can't match to colour chart or get it here in Turkey.. Boat was regelled ten years ago. Can polyester be tinted with acrylic paint ??. Its only a couple spots round bow, don't mind repolishing every year if I have to.
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Please be clear whether we are talking about epoxy or polyester.
It's best to tint with the proper pigment for polyester gelcoat IMHO.
Anything else might fade, yellow or other wise change.
But people have got away with all sorts of stuff, generally if it sets hard, whatever you've mixed in hasn't affected the resin too badly.
 
What I did was to buy white gelcoat resin, and yellow tint.
then I mixed a teeny amount into a plastic cup without adding hardener and kept adjusting adding tint till I got a good match, done by brushing on with a small paintbrush.
The resin then wipes off and you can add hardener and fill in those marks. The resin typically doesn't change colour as it hardens.
To stop any touchups from sagging on vertical surfaces, and to ensure the resin hardens properly tape a piece of Melinex sheet over each.
 
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Either, epoxy has mixed and harden well,i,ll try polyester next, i would not know how many or what colours to order in pigments.thats if i could get them delivered on time /at all to turkey..got 12 tubes of acrylic paint for a £5.only want it to tidy me over for a season or two worst case .thou it would be nice if one of them had the chance to last longer ?
 
Hi I don't want to hijack this thread, but I'm about to start gel coat repairs to a little Beneteau. We used to get thickened polyester gel coat in a tube and colour. I can't remember the manufacturer, but I've seen small colour pots to add to the white paste. Two questions
Can you still get the tubes of gel coat?
Is there a ready prepared tint for Beneteau topside.
 
Acrylic paint contains water beefore curing, i doubt that works well with polyester and it does not work with epoxy.

Better let it dry then powderise.
If it is cheap paint, it may not be uv proof.
 
Force 4 chanderly stock Blue Gee gel coat repair kits. They do little pots of pigment that you add to the gel coat resin. Very easy to use but trying to match colours i have always found difficult! I suspect Bluee Gee is available elsewhere in the UK.
 
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Sorry boat hook,meant to say i m in turkey and time is short ,,i have managed to get a near perfect match (for now ) it would appear epoxy and acrylic do actually mix.have gone with it for now only time will tell .least when /if it needs redoing i should be somewhere i can get polyester and tints .
 
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