epoxy and FG questions for redneck truck camper

[MudFlap]

Were you using rollers specific for glassing?

I think you were on to something, Tony (rollers).

I ran low on the rollers that I bought from Raka and picked some up off the shelf at local box store. "New" rollers looked/felt just like the old ones, but the bubble problem was worse with the new rollers, especially towards end of job after rollers were saturated and started to soften up. I guess they were lower density...

In the end, it will not be too big a problem. A light sanding seems to knock the top of the texture down nicely, leaving just a very small amount of texture, which is fine.

Only other issue with finish is the "selvage" edge of the fiberglass leaves a slight ridge in the epoxy. Plan to knock it down a bit with sanding and apply a little more epoxy.

I'm almost done with all sides of camper, leaving just the top. FINALLY, I get to do a horizontal surface!!!

[saltydawg]

Guys there is a few tricks for making mixed epoxy not kick off too fast. First and easiest after you mix dump it in to a disposable cookie sheet, it spreads out and the heat does not build up and make it kick. Next, refrigerate the epoxy and hardener, yup keep the jugs in the fridge then mix. Yes it gets thicker until it warms up but with in seconds of applying to the surface it is at the surface temp. Depending on what your doing it might make it a little trickier but it will add time before it kicks in the mixing cup, in my experience it gave me at least an extra 20 mins. You might want to make sure you are doing it in the right temp range for the epoxy thou at if on the colder side it can take for ever to cure all the way.

And in all honesty having the ability to heat the area after you lay out the epoxy is not a bad idea, and radiant heaters that go on 20lb propane tanks set about 10 to 15 feet away work great to help it cure.

[MudFlap]

Happy to report that I'm done (yay!) with the fiberglass!

Well, I have one more session of sanding, then I'm on to prime and paint in a day or two. Yay!

Looking back, the process was not as difficult as I expected.

Problems:
I had three small(ish) bubbles appear in the FG. They each measured about 1/4" by 1" (or less). Two were on an edge, perhaps caused by epoxy sinking into void in edge, displacing air, which rose and formed a bubble. One was on a flat area. Looked like a small raised "wrinkle" in FG cloth. Went at 'em with sander, then filled with thickened resin. No problem.

Advice for others:
Nothing much. Oh, I have this: early on, I would measure out resin in one small disposable cup, hardener in a second small disposable cup, and then pour them into a third disposable cup, mix, pour into paint tray and apply. All disposable cups were then ... disposed!

I quickly realized that (with appropriate size resin cup) I could measure resin in one cup, hardener in second cup, then pour hardener into resin cup and mix. So one less cup to throw out.

I did that for a day or two when my wife asked: Why don't you just put TWO marks on one cup. Add resin up to the lower mark, then switch over and put in hardener up to the second mark?

Well, duh! I told her that if I lost track or made a mistake in filling the cup, I might have to throw everything out, but I went ahead and started doing that and never had a problem.

FWIW, I didn't have an extra hand to mix resin for me, so I did it on my own, but this was fine.

I did end up switching over to electric sanders. "random orbital" and "finish" sanders. I like the finish sander best (orbital wants to walk around more), but I have lots of sanding disks for orbital that I'm trying to use up....

Lastly, I'm just glad that it is done. The FG work was quite time consuming. Lots of built in delays: Wait between coats of epoxy. Wait to sand. Etc.

FWIW, I used close to six gallons (total between the two) of resin and hardener. This was for an initial "seal coat", one "bond coat", and three "fill coats".

Many thanks to those on this list that offered their advice. The confidence that comes with having questions answered makes a big difference before you jump in and start mixing epoxy!

[tony.latham]

I did that for a day or two when my wife asked: Why don't you just put TWO marks on one cup.

Pumps make life easier...

But good job. I suspec that fiberglassing is now part of your shop skills that'll be used in the future.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Happy to report that I'm done (yay!) with the fiberglass! ...
Many thanks to those on this list that offered their advice. The confidence that comes with having questions answered makes a big difference before you jump in and start mixing epoxy!

The techniques that are successful for you are the right ones. Glad it worked well!

Tom

[saltydawg]

When I have done glass work in the past I tried pumps. Every pump I used failed, every one, I used west systems pumps. It caused issues on a few things, like epoxy taking weeks to cure and in one case after a week I heated the space to 90 degrees for 3 days.

I then started using the pour in to a cup to a line, add hardener to a line and mix method. Much faster and more accurate. If you use the plastic mixing cups from places like west marine or depot the epoxy will peel out after it cures and you can use the cup a second or third time.

Maybe for doing a few oz for feathering or patching pumps maybe be ok but pumping them 50 time or what ever it is to get 60 oz of resin sucks. And dont loose count

[tony.latham]

Maybe for doing a few oz for feathering ...

I've mixed several gallons of Raka epoxy using their pumps in the last half-a-decade or so. No pump failures and no batch failures.



Big or little, they work for me.

Tony

[pchast]

I've used measured cups for large batches. I'll put a second inside the marked one so that the measured cup is always clean.

For small batches an inexpensive electronic scale is great for making the ratio right. The manufacturer's web site will provide weight ratios.

[MudFlap]

The techniques that are successful for you are the right ones. Glad it worked well!

Tom

Yep. Thanks again, Tom. You were very generous with your time in getting me going.

My $0.02 on the pumps: I used them, but also used the "cup in marked cup" technique as a check (read that somewhere). Sure enough, one time, I had a pump "burp" an air bubble out mid-pump. Another time, after not using one of the pumps for maybe a week, it "lost its prime" and when I went to fill my little cup, about half of the downstroke pumped air only. With the marked cup method, it was nice to be able to double check the volume and bring it right up to the line as needed.

A couple questions for Old Times Sake:

What do you do with the pumps at the end of project? Pull them out and pump what's in them back into jugs? Leave them in, but lock them in the "down" position?

I'm working on plans for a second whack at the camper-building piñata, but it'll be a couple years before I'm back doing FG (yay) again.

What is the shelf life for resin and hardener?

[Tom&Shelly]

A couple questions for Old Times Sake:

What do you do with the pumps at the end of project? Pull them out and pump what's in them back into jugs? Leave them in, but lock them in the "down" position?

I'm working on plans for a second whack at the camper-building piñata, but it'll be a couple years before I'm back doing FG (yay) again.

What is the shelf life for resin and hardener?

We just left the pumps in (in the up position) for maybe 6 months. I've been back at it recently using the epoxy for waterproofing and glue, etc. There seemed to be a little bit of white hardener (whatever that was--haven't read about it) at the very beginning, that I threw away, but other than that, it seems to keep well in the jugs with the pumps.

I wouldn't trust those pumps for amounts, especially after that. As you know, we use the double cup system.

Tom

[MudFlap]

Greetings.

I wanted to update this thread with a picture of my finished build, and thank the members of this list that offered lots of help.

There's nothing very exciting about this camper (or build). Construction was a mix of several techniques, with an emphasis on making a well insulated camper since we do lots of cold weather camping.

The one area that was very new to me was working with fiberglass (which was used to coat entire exterior). The members of this forum came through Big Time to give me the skills and confidence to tackle that part of the project. Many thanks for that.

Here's the final product. I mounted it up on an old work truck last week and took it out on its maiden voyage this week. After having spent many years sleeping in the back of an uninsulated cargo van, this camper felt like a 5-star hotel!



Thanks again!

[tony.latham]

There's nothing very exciting about this camper (or build).

Baloney. It's a one-of-a-kind. Hand-built.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Greetings.

I wanted to update this thread with a picture of my finished build, and thank the members of this list that offered lots of help.

There's nothing very exciting about this camper (or build). Construction was a mix of several techniques, with an emphasis on making a well insulated camper since we do lots of cold weather camping.

The one area that was very new to me was working with fiberglass (which was used to coat entire exterior). The members of this forum came through Big Time to give me the skills and confidence to tackle that part of the project. Many thanks for that.

Here's the final product. I mounted it up on an old work truck last week and took it out on its maiden voyage this week. After having spent many years sleeping in the back of an uninsulated cargo van, this camper felt like a 5-star hotel!



Thanks again!

Looks great!

Tom

[pchast]

Glad its worked out for you. That looks good from here....
How about some pictures of the back and inside?

[OP827]

Hi MudFlap,

This is probably the shortest build thread I have ever seen here , congrats ! Hope to see some more pictures outside and inside..

Thanks for sharing.

Oleg