Epoxy treatment

[pipedream]

I realise this topic has been done to death on the forum but I have some questions!

Just done a hull repair below the waterline from the outside with csm, polyester resin and polyester gelcoat.

I believe in 1995 the hull was "epoxy treated" below the water line (appears to be red in colour). I would like to repeat this on my repaired area, but know very little about it all!

My questions are:

1. Does the term "epoxy treatment" simply mean a coat of viscous epoxy resin direct to the gelcoat surface, or is there a dedicated product for coating hulls?
2. What products are there for this job? (if its not just epoxy resin!), and what products do people have experience of?
3. Where are the best places to purchase?
4. Can anybody forsee a problem with "blending in" a new area of epoxy tretment with almost 10 year old epoxy?

Thanks guys, hope you can help!

 

[isandell]

I'm not an expert but looked into the subject a few years ago when we epoxied Sea Holly.

There are generally 3 types of treatment.

The most extreme involves peeling the gelcoat off, repairing any bad laminate, drying the hull and replacing the gelcoat with epoxy/filler mix, having repaired any bad laminate.

The other treaments involve cleaning the hull usually with grit blasting and thereby roughening the hull to provide a good key, making sure the hull is dry and then applying either a solvent based epoxy (eg International) or a solventless product (eg Blakes). International is usually 6 coats while Blakes is two but the finished expoxy coat should be the same thickness.

Quite how that fits into your situation I dont know. It depends on what treatment was carried out on your boat (and how well).

Ian