How much epoxy?

[mallymal]

I'm going for an ally top with ply sandwich sides, probably coated with epoxy, before painting.

I've looked at the excellent epoxy user guides on this forum, but cant see anywhere a guide as to how much I would need to coat 2 exteriors with 2 or 3 coats. What kind of coverage do you get with a roller?

thanks!

[S. Heisley]

Hi, Mallymal:

You probably have different epoxy and paint products in the UK than what's here in the US; so, someone on your side of the ocean will need to answer this. However, I'm pretty sure the forum members will need a little more information:
...Epoxy brand/type you plan to use?
...Paint?
Instructions and number of coatings may vary with the type of epoxy you plan to use and what kind of paint you plan to use over it.

[Steve_Cox]

I wouldn't stop with coating just the plywood sides with epoxy, I would encapsulate all exterior plywood with several coats, even that which is under the aluminum. I predict your project will take about 7/8ths of an Imperial gallon of resin + hardener.

[Esteban]

Mallymal,

1 (US) gallon might be enough epoxy to coat the sides. To fully saturate the wood you'll need to put on at least 2-3 thin coats. To get a very smooth base for your paint you'll need to sand the hardened epoxy and put on more coats of epoxy and do more sanding.

Using epoxy on the roof, under the aluminum, seems like a wise step to give an extra line of defense against moisture. That may take another gallon.

How much epoxy you use partly depends on how nice a base surface you want under the paint. It takes more epoxy, and sanding, to get a really smooth surface. If you do both the sides and roof 2 gallons probably would be enough.

[Micro469]

I used about 1.5 gallons of epoxy on my tear. But ,then I had isues and had to remove a layer...........I also epoxied over a two year period..... didn't want to use the old stuff for the final coats......