New build and epoxy temp question

[riverron]

I picked up my plans, project plywood pack, MAS epoxy and a piece of Sitka spruce to start my build last Saturday at the CLC open house. I am still waiting on the plans to arrive, but they shipped on Monday. Since I have never built a boat, I plan on using the stuff I bought to practice before getting the PocketShip kit in 2016.

I plan on using the project pack to practice "fillets" and have some spare wood to practice on the nose block before using the Sitka spruce for the real thing.

1)I have a question about epoxy and temperature. I read that the best minimum temp is 60 degrees, but I also read that I can use work lights. If I heat up my shed or garage to 60 plus degrees for a working temp, is it ok to glue a piece of wood or do a fillet and then use work lights close to let it cure for 12-24 hours with the light on?

2) Also, when glueing the nose block what do you use to spread the thicken epoxy (mustard thickness with cell-lo-fill) ?
I purchased some brushes?

3) Lastly, where do you store your epoxy? I live in Virginia and my garage which is not heated gets in the 40's during mid winter. I have a heated room / large closet inside my house that I can store the un-opened containers, but I would think twice about the epoxy that is open and has the pump installed?

I also plan on starting a blog and will post the link to it as soon as I can get it built. I hope to share my build like many of the ones I have been reading.

Thanks
Ron

[DanaDCole]

1. You're right, 60 degrees should be minimum temp for curing. You can enclose an area in plastic so you don't waste energy heating up the whole garage and use some 100 W lights, or I suggest a small electric heater with a thermostat. Be very careful with the plastic sheeting though.

2. I find chip brushes to be cheap and easy to use. Also a good idea to spread on unthickened epoxy first and let the wood soak that up before brushing on the thickened epoxy. That helps to prevent glue-starved joints. Or, spread the thickened epoxy really thickly on both surfaces as John H suggests. You'll get a lot of squeeze-out that way though.

3. Keep your epoxy at room temperature. Otherwise you may get crystallization in it. That can be fixed by submerging the epoxy container in hot water, but a lot of trouble. I don't think air has any effect on resins or hardeners so don't worry about opened containers with pump installed.

There is a lot of good information on the MAS website. (Assuming you are using the MAS product.). They do say, though, that you can use their product down to 50 degrees, which John rails against. They also say the product only lasts about two years which he says is not right--has used 10-year old epoxy with no problems. He believes both the above statements are just an attempt to sell more epoxy.

[riverron]

Thanks Dana. So it sounds like if I heat up my workspace to 60 degrees, I can then use the lights to let it cure.
Is 24 hours long enough with the lights?

For the storage of the open containers, would keeping it in a cabinet in my garage be ok , even if it may get in the 40s?
The garage does not get below freezing.

Sorry, for all the questions, I am just want to get it right.

[DanaDCole]

For the absolutely strongest joint or lamination you need to keep it above 60 for at least eight or nine days (when using slow hardener). Any pieces that are small enough I always bring into the house. In fact I am building a shelf for the cabin and it is curing on my dining room table right now (with newspapers under it). There's a curing time chart on the MAS website for various ambient temperatures. Obviously higher temps and/or medium or fast hardener will give you shorter curing times. The only thing about their chart is I would heed John Harris's (and others') warnings and keep it above 60.

If you keep the resin below 55 or so for too long you will start to see milkiness near the bottom. This is crystallization. If that happens you will have the somewhat tiresome task of putting the container in hot water for several hours to fix it. I have five-gallon containers so I had to use a big plastic trash bin for this purpose.

You really need to read through the FAQs and so on on the MAS (or other brand) website. There's a ton of information there and I know for a fact MAS is quick to answer your questions if you can't find the answers. Also there are several threads on the forum about properly curing epoxy, keeping the project warm enough, and so on. You're not the only one who has had these questions.

[DanaDCole]

For epoxy storage, I found some huge plastic bins in drawers, one above the other, at Walmart. The bins are large enough for five-gallon containers and if you screw the pumps to the down position when you are done you can close the drawers. There has been a lot of spillage with leaky valves (when you screw the pumps down several drops of liquid are forced out) and some accidents over the years but it is all contained safely in the bins. So if you are careful after you pour the resin and hardener into your mixing container you don't run any risk of damage inside the house.

I decided on the over-under drawers to save space. If you have enough room you could just use large bins side by side and leave the pumps open. As you can see, the bins are in the laundry room, which is adjacent to the garage.