trouble with polyester resin

[restornator]

i'm having trouble rolling it out onto the structure after i wet the mat. it's just too tacky for the rollers and spreaders i'm using, and pulls off. Do i need to coat the surface first? and are there any tricks to rolling it out? i've had to wet out the cloth with epoxy, then lay over the mat and wet it out, applying both layers at the same time. To smooth it out, i have to cover it with plastic dropcloth and mold it to the shape with small sand bags. i can pull up the dropcloth tack free in about three days, which means my next layer can't go on for another 3+ days

[tinhorn]

Especially for mat, I typically coat the surface with resin before laying down the 'glass, then kinda work the dry glass down into the resin. You can add a bit of resin to dry spots.

Your resin may be old, or excessively "thixed" - too much of the element that turns it from drippy (like water) to not running off the vertical surfaces (like honey). Try adjusting the speed that you move your tools, mixing the resin to break up the "handholding" of the thixotrope particles, or simply dipping your tools in acetone to clean them up a bit during the layup process.

Your resin should "kick" (turn to gel) within an hour of catalyzing, and harden within a few hours.

[the1much]

what are you using epoxy or poly?
and before wetting anything out you need to grind first,,,then wet out ya structure,,then lay ya mat on,,,then wet out again,,,,,,if things are to thick for your rollers,,,,your doing something wrong.