Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hello All:

I am building a TD, and skinned it with Birch ply. Over that I put a thin epoxy coat, and therein lies my problem.

The epoxy has been on for over two weeks, and still hasn't fully cured out yet! Before anyone tells me I mixed it wrong, I assure you I did not. I used the appropriate pumps, supplied by the manufacturer, and mixed according to their directions. I also heated my shed to 70 degrees or better when I was mixing and applying, and ran a little heat to keep the shed around 55 to 60 degrees overnight. I've used the same epoxy before, on the TD, and didn't have any problems.

When I try to sand it, it gloms up any sander that I use in pretty short order, and leaves a bunch of glop sticking to the surface of the TD. I have tried 40 up to 220 grit on my DA sander, always with the same result. If I could, I would sand all the way down to raw wood, then switch to West System instead of the Boat World crap I used.

I guess my question in all of this is how to get this junk off my camper! I have tried mechanical methods with horrible results...is there a chemical or something else I can use that won't tear up the plywood or wood glue?

Any help, as always, will be much appreciated!

Oh-boy....

Have you contacted the epoxy manufacturer?

I'd suit up, move out of the shed, and work it over with acetone. Or do what the manufacturer says...

Tony

There is no easy way to get the epoxy off the wood. If your shop was humid (ie unvented propane heater) that might explain to extremely long cure time. If you still have some of the epoxy, mix up a small batch and put it on some scrap and see if it will cure under drier conditions. If not the epoxy was bad and you are in trouble. If it cures, and you are sure you mixed it correctly and long enough, there is hope. Try parking the teardrop outside on a sunny day. You can set up a tent of clear polyethylene to keep some of the heat in. If you can get it warm (and dry) for several hours the epoxy may harden up.

Years ago, my friends and I built a wood boat in an unheated garage during a Minnesota winter. We built a frame of PVC, threw a poly tarp over that and put two 1500 watt electric heaters under the tent with the boat. It took a couple days but the epoxy eventually set up enough to keep working on the boat.

Good luck!

White Vinegar dissolves uncured Epoxy, (at least the brand that I used, West Systems).I don't know that you will be able to reuse any cloth that you already used, but this might help get the bad stuff off. It may be the mild acid that breaks it down.
On cured Epoxy getting it over 160 degrees with a heat gun is a fast way to break it down. It falls apart unless it was designed for high temps.
It has been a while since I worked with it, but I seem to remember they had 2 sets of pumps. Some of their products had different mix ratios.
Make certain the pumps that you have are meant to work with each other, and with the type of epoxy you have.

Just to ask the question: Could this be a severe case of amine "blush" rather than a case of epoxy that isn't setting up? Especially if the air is humid during the cure (i.e. from an unvented propane/kero heater), blush can be a severe. If it >is< blush, you should be able to get te waxy coating off with soap and water, but if one tries to remove it mechanically it can smear all over (clogging up sandpaper, etc).

Well? What did you figure out? What caused it and how did you fix it?

Tony

Yea what was the end results ? I need to know to.

Im probably to late but if you know a car painter or theres one nearby you could see if you could put it in thier oven for a few hours

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Sorry to take so long to reply

I finally got through with all of the epoxy work, mostly by wet sanding it smooth. I tried using a DA sander, but it just clogged the sanding disks within a minute or two...very annoying!

After it was all said and done, the epoxy did a pretty good job of filling in the grain of the plywood, and I wound up priming and painting using Interlux 2 part epoxy primer, and Interlux Perfection, a 2 part marine paint. I used these products on a sailboat I rehabbed, and was quite pleased with it then and now. I rolled and tipped the trailer, and it came out absolutely stunning!

Photos?!?

Did you ever figure out what went wrong?

That can happen if the epoxy isn't stirred around good enough. It only takes a small amount not stirred up quite enough to cause that.

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This happened to me. I put fiberglass on the top of my teardrop and used vinyl esther resin. I also used the resin on the plywood sides to waterproof it. It was very humid when I applied it, and even in the Texas heat, there were spots that remained sticky for about 2 weeks before they finally set up and hardened. I suspect that I may not have mixed well enough as well.