How often have you responded to a “free” add, only to find someone wants you to cart a bunch of trash off their lawn. Way too often it seems. On occasion, however, the opposite can happen with wonderful results. Earlier this week, during a lull at work, I was perusing the boat section on the local online classifieds when I ran across a just-posted add for a free Nacra 5.7. My first thought is it’s probably a pile of parts, missing more than it’s worth to restore. My second thought is I better get out there and save that pile of parts before a salvage guys trashes it all for the aluminum. I call the guy, and it turns out the boat is complete, in decent shape, but has sustained damage one of the hulls that needs to be fixed. I did not expect that. But here’s the best part though – The owner has chosen to give it away, hopefully to a sailor who can/will fix it, rather than sell something he feels is in a less than acceptable state. How’s that for pure class and integrity? Turned out to be a great guy who was happy his boat was going to get fixed and get some use. Even had the paper work all in order.
The boat is in, for the most part, is in really good condition. The issue is several deep rub marks on the side of the hull, I assume from being left against a dock for an extended period. I think they look worse thn they really are. I do not think the intergrity of the hull is comprimised. We’re talking down to the glass, maybe a bit in, but that’s it. Zero flex in the hull. For the most part, should be a pretty straight forward fix. Here’s the issue though. The previous owner did try to fix the damage and glassed over the damaged ageas. From what I can tell, he did everything right. The resin, however, really hasn’t kicked off and is still a bit gooey after several days. West 105 resin with 206 “slow cure” hardener. Slow cure shouldn’t be several days, should it? My fear is an improper resin/hardener mix. If this is the case, any suggestions on how to get it to kick off, or do I need to strip it? I was going to try a heat lamp later today but its been pretty hot as is. Any other ideas? And, if need be, how do you strip partially cured resin?
Thanks
Chris
Polyester resin or Epoxy? If it's polyester resin you can mix a "hot batch" with more than the normal amount of regular hardener and do a skim coat with that. Should kick off the old batch and get it to harden up. I'm not sure the best way to get it off if that doesn't work. Maybe a putty knife to scrape off as much of the goo as you can and some acetone?
Pretty usre epoxy - thanks
Even with the slower West hardener it should be hard in 24 hours if the temperature is 70 or above. I would skim it off and clean it with acetone prior to epoxying it again.
if it's been cold and damp, slow cure will be SLOW
if you're not pushed for time you could leave it another week, inside a garage best, bone dry with a lamp.....
but it's not hard to rip it all off with acetone, scrub it out with a stainless pot brush, gloves, mask fan etc. and start again
if you had and were more familiar with polyester resins it sounds like that would be adequate, but you would have to remove ALL traces of the epoxy for it to kick
1982 nacra 5.2
2009 weta
Cold nights, hot days. I have leftover West epoxy so I'll stick with that route. I'll also give the acetone a shot and see if I can get it cleaned up...
Chris