Fairing with Vinyl Ester...Should I switch to something else?

All,
Created an account here as this forum seems the best for answering my current questions...

Long story short, I am wrapping up a deck recore of a Tartan 34c. I did all of it in VE which was fine for the most part. Lots of mistakes and waste but whatever...Now I'm at the fairing stage and getting frustrated with that part...mainly because the fairing mixture is curing way too slow.

Problem is, even after a week, it is gumming up the sandpaper and it seems like I am doing something wrong...

I realized I was not using a wax in order for it to cure...so I added that recently to my last batch...but my main question is, Should I switch over to a pre-made VE fairing compound since I assume it will perform better/cure faster or is this just the nature of VE?

I realize upon reading here on past entries that some had success with various adaptations like using the right mixture of hardener, fillers, etc...

At the moment, I was using Microballons mostly...should I switch to something else like cabosil?

Is it just a matter of VE cure times or maybe a combination of both getting the right mixture or hardener and fillers? Any advice from those experienced with VE would be appreciated!

 

Most VE resins tend to cure with a sticky backside, VE fairing compounds use special formulas for a good tack free and easily sanded surface.

 

Depending on how well your glasing job went will greatly affect how much effort your fairing process wil take. As ondavar said VE is a slow cure resin which at times has given me fits. My opinion is you are wasting money on a VE finishing product. And I'm not a huge fan of adding wax. You are much better off using a poly based compoud such as polyfair. It will also block air to your last coat of VE allowing it to cure fully. And you'll be sanding off most of it anyway.

 

Thanks to both!

I thought about switching over to Polyester or epoxy fairing...but wanted to continue using VE. I did use some expoxy on decks for re-attaching my cowl vent boxes that I decided to re-use and to attach some acrylic tubes intside those after seeing the problem the aluminum tubes caused with separation and osmosis

Yeah, I am a rookie of course so still learning little tricks. I actually ordered some VE fairing compound from LBI yesterday after talking to them about the same problem I was having...Should be here today or tomorrow. Once it's here, going to test it out on my cockpit floors to see how it cures compared to decks...Should be much better according to them as they add certain additives that allow it to cure much faster.

Will let you know how it goes.

 

If you are in southern Mass. you have Merton's which may be local to you. Joe is a great guy to deal with. I have done business with LBI as well but you may save some money by avoiding the shipping.

 

Yeap...switching away from VE at this point...wasting too much time and sandpaper with curing times even with this specific fairing putty...going to switch to cheap old poly fairing from 3M...taking a trip to Jamestown this morning to pick up a couple gallons

 

Ended up buying the 3M Premium vinyl ester stuff just to stick with VE...expensive but so far, the curing has been great...only problem is you have to work in small sections due to fast curing...I am working with 4 ounces at a time, 2-3 foot sections...