epoxy finish

[tyce]

i am now on my third coat of six, of international gelshield 200.
i have been using mohair rollers that have been recommended by international and my supplier, but the finish is not as smooth as i had hoped, it is a bit dimpled.
does anyone know of a better method that i could try on the next coats or would a brush give a better finish
thanks in anticipation

 

[MacW]

Check that you are applying the epoxy within the temperature limitations, - it`s not too cold. Other than that, the `orange peel ` effect is a common problem with epoxy. We always reckoned it to be faster = less drag, shedding of boundary layer etc.

pete

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Tyce,

If you want a very high gloss finish try the following.

Start at the water line and work down to the centre of the hull.

Apply with a roller, and not fully loaded, you don't need a thick coat in a couple of goes, roll two roller widths at a time and overlap the last run by an inch or so.

Have a second person very lightly feather the rolled area, very soft and with a long bristle quality brush, keeping the brush clean by wiping with a damp solvent soaked white cotton cloth.

Brushing should be done as soon as the roller is clear, the person rolling should be on the last stroke when the brusher is finished and wiping the brush.

You will know after a short time how big an area you can roll so the brusher keeps up.

You may find that by the time you have done a lap, the start point has tacked off enough to get a second coat in, if you can't dent it with a finger nail, let it fully cure.

Avagoodweekend...........

 

[Steve_N]

I used a small foam gloss paint roller to apply Gelshield 200 when I did my previous boat, and the finish it gave was exceptional: smooth and free of blemishes. Beware that the solvent and/or epoxy does degrade the roller though: just change the head as soon as it starts to swell and soften and you won't have any problems. About 2 roller heads per coat on a 33' boat were sufficient.

 

[howardclark]

Use West system rollers and as advised on the previous reply keep the loading down. Thin coats go on much more smoothly.

 

[Paragon]

When I did mine I was given by professionals the following tip.

Roll on as normal using normal B&Q type roller and then using a rubber blade (very soft) and similiar to a window cleaning rubber (but larger) go over the area just epoxyied using a similiar motion to that cleaning windows. The blade needs to be used lightly and at a shallow angle and epoxy sets smotth as the babys bot!

Worked for me!