Tip: Precoating small pieces

[JimW]

I´m embarassed to say how long it took me to discover that you can precoat an entire piece by laying down a layer of 4 mil plastic and using a glove hand to hold the small piece. Brush the epoxy on all over and lay it on the plastic. Peels right off the next morning. This is helpful for the stage I´m in now. Making all the hardware backing plates. Every hatch cover, deck cleat, rod holder, etc. needs ´em. This could take awhile.<BR><BR>Jim

[BilltheCat]

Thanks for the tip - I been fretting the timeline on the project....you know, okay I´m going to do this this weekend, but I´ve got to precoat that beforehand and it´ll be 12 hours before I can do the other and and and .... <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_eek.gif">

[MikeS]

BilltheCat; you don´t have to wait until the epoxy sets before using the parts. Precoat and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. If all the epoxy soaks in then give it another coat and then assemble. Usually, one heavy precoat is enough but sometimes if using fir or pine with thick outer layers of veneer, it can take two coats. After it sits for 20-30 minutes, if there is resin on the surface then the wood is saturated. The idea of the precoat is to saturate the wood before taping so that the epoxy in the taping mix isn´t sucked out into the wood, starving the joint. Its always best to work wet on wet unless you just don´t want to work with wet, sticky stuff. Sure saves time though, and you get a better bond. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_biggrin.gif">