temp and resin

[beradtke]

oki know the can says 70 or better but i got to get this floor finished for long point since we have what 28 days? . if it is close witll it be ok just take longer to harden or will it really mess with the chemical bond of the glass. i would like to work on the floor tomarrow and they are saying a high between 68-72 here in stuart. should i stay or should i go for it

[Blue197320]

in my limited experience with resin it will take longer to harder in the cooler weather but will still be solid.

[Entourage]

Question for this subject, i was doing my floor today in my sceptre on cape cod and the temp was about 39 and the sun was beating on me. I was using hull and deck putty and it seems like it was taking a while to dry. Was this because of the cooler temp? It is no Stuart up here, you guys make me jealous.

[JohnB]

I have used glass all the way down to 50 degrees, had to put a little more hardner in it (25% more), and it takes longer to kick, but it will. Epoxy is a different story, from about 45 degrees down, it WILL NOT harden until it warms up.

[65Bowrider]

We've used epoxy with medium hardner & was told it's ok to about 65 degrees.

[beradtke]

it works and it is solid got the wood down and layer of cloth on it so now is sanding and fairing and sanding and painting and then done. actually had a batch of resin get hard on me while i was working and got a lil warm in the container.

[andrewgaynor]

the cure cycle of your standard epoxy is a time vs temp curve... the cooler the temp, the longer you wait. polyester is a little different in that you can accelerate it with mekp...up to a point and then you start to ruin your resin properties. my bottles show me a range of mekp for varies temps. but I've been laminating in my garage all winter at about 30, maybe colder, no problem. I just throw a plastic sheet over everything and little space heater makes a nice 'oven': the key is to use a thin plastic (5mil) so the hot air blows it up some.