20ft Fibreglass boat repairs help & advice needed

will stick on some pics soon.
I need to know the mix ratio for sealing mix for transom and stranger priorr to setting them in and also the mix ratio for standard mix for putting together transom with glass.

 

also aerosil is extremely expensive here and was told i can use sawdust from the local wood yard. It this correct?
Aerosil is $300 for 5kg here...
then talc is also $100 for 5kg. it costs more than the actual resin

 

Resins vary from one company , place, country to the next also theres a great long list of catalysts so do a little exsperimenting of your own .
Never forget temprature and humidity have a big bareing on all this as well !!
Also be accurate with your measuring of resin (use scales )and catalyst Use a proper measure thats easy to read . dont Guess !!
Ok now to the subject , you are looking for enough time to do the job so 30 to 45 minutes is usuall as a gel time !! this is the time when the resin starts to thicken to the point where you cant work with it . add to what has been said resin in a container will generate head and the head will make you resin go off quicker . So thick layups will go hard quicker then thin layups .
Lets talk percentages of catalyst for the resin you got . make 3 samples exactly the same quantity 1 @1.0% another @ 1.5% and the last @2.0 %
Catalyse at the same time and time there Gel times . NOT IN THE SUN
1% = 10ml to 1 kilo of resin ,be accurate dont guess !!!
Most places i worked 1.25% to 1.5 % is ok remember the gel time !!!
Once you start a job and once you mixed the resin ,unless you wife is having a baby on the spot you dont stop till you finished and cleaned up all you gear and your self .
Its no place for cell phones and kids or people coming to talk

 

If you want to mix say 1/2 a liter how do you measure 1% hardener

 

By weight you are being silly BUT its just 5 ml to measure in quantity

accurately

 

If you want to tell us how to do it please do--

How do you weigh 1% since your keen on shouting I DON'T KNOW.

 

Smile i am pulling your leg mate !!!

Its only 5 ml so use a small diametre measure or a syringe . most fibreglass supplyers have them ,small dia and a bigger dia , syringes have a dozen uses apart from measuring catalyst !!

 

I normally use a small plastic bottle with a knife cut in the cap. I could squeeze out a very accurate drop although how many drops was unknown . Over time it was 10 to 14 drops for approx 1/4 liter. 14 drops would be a quicky.

I do have syringes,--for some reason I never thought of that, thanks.

If you mix talc with it I have to use much more.

 

and wood shavings?

 

Frosty when i mix accurately i use the kids medicine measure cups as we have a million of them.
Also for a tip, 1ltr is 1000ml so 1% = 10ml as its 1/100 of a ltr. most the time with simple percentages it basically a fraction ie quarter is 25%.
Hope that made sense

 

Im not building a boat I just need bits for repairs here and there. The amount I mix is small, measuring has always been a problem for me.

God Ive had some soggy disasters. I tend to scrape off if its not gone in 3 days!!! Or glass over it again. Ille definately try to remember the ryringe thing. Seems obvious now.

 

Like i always try to stress in all these posts accuracy mixing resin or gelcoat is critical .
larger quantities is not quite so bad .
Most composite supplyers have syringes a small one is good ,the graduations are easy to read and its accurate . THE bigger ones are good for mixes up to 2,or 3,or 4 litres and most big syringes are about 60ml or 80 ml .
Make life simple for your self and take away the guessing . Just the kitchen digital scales are perfectly ok for small quantities . Most plastic containers like small buckets have litres marked inside or find a serious of containers that are one or two litres and use them all the time as measures.
Also learn the metric system its a hundred time easyer than measuring in the old pounds, pints ,ounces, quarts , and what ever else there used to be .
AS for drops dont even want to know !!
Keep you catalyst in a cool dark place when you are not using it !!
It will burn and in the right situation is self combustable !! take care where you keep it
Its dangerous stuff so treat it accordingly ,gloves and eye protection and eye wash!!!!!!

 

Oh sure yeah I always do---- he he he

And put a guard on the grinder and dont play with matches, DONT go on the roof you might fall off.

Best not go out of the house and stay in bed

 

The most painfull burn i ever had in all my whole life was a Catalyst burn from picking up a glass container we always used, i used it all day and forgot to wash my hands so was on my skin for some time !!.
When i got home i was intears it was so sore and made straight for the ice blocks in the freezer i held ice blocks of hours and didnt even sleep for the whole night ,as each ice block melted i got more by next morning it had started to feel a bit better , when i dried my hands and held my fingers up they dripped clear liquid , it took almost 2 days before they felt reasonable and could bare to touch anything again a week later the skin all fell off my fingertips and were snow white , It eats the fat out of your skin .
If you get one drop in you eye you got 30 second to wash it out or you loose you sight forever . like i said its self combustable and as tempramental and nitroglycorine ., is as combustable as petrol . and reacts with rusty metal . The first company i worked for they lost there truck in a cloud of smoke because the box with all the combustables was sitting in the sun in the back !! Beware !!!!

 

Please keep catalyst it away from children and animals !!