First Epoxy laminate

[tbelliot]

Hello all. First post, before i get started I want to preface with the fact i am not building a boat. I am actually building a plywood aquarium. I decided to post my question on here as I value the information I have received from this forum and you folks seem very knowledgeable.

So surprise surprise, ran into what to me appears as a problem. I used the dry method for 10oz cloth and despite using a squeegee appear to have used too much resin. In some areas I can see the glass weave as I should during first coat. Other areas i am left with blisters where it appears i didnt get good adhesion between laminate and peel ply fabric. See photos.

I did fin roll the area so I am relatively confident I didnt get any of the fabric too float. What should I do sand the blistered areas down and apply another coat? Or simply fill the blistered areas with fairing compound and top coat that? Or something all together different?

 

[bajansailor]

Welcome to the forum Tbeliot.
I am not qualified to offer an opinion re your epoxy problems as shown in the photos above, but others on here are, absolutely.
I am intrigued by your plywood aquarium - does it have glass in any of the sides as well, or is it essentially a plywood box?
What are the approx dimensions / volume capacity?
Have you designed it yourself?
If it is a deep tank, have you taken into account the pressure head of the water that will be contained in the tank?

 

[fallguy]

Those are jist voids in uniform sirface peelply would give. Fill them with fairing compound.

 

[tbelliot]

Welcome to the forum Tbeliot.
I am not qualified to offer an opinion re your epoxy problems as shown in the photos above, but others on here are, absolutely.
I am intrigued by your plywood aquarium - does it have glass in any of the sides as well, or is it essentially a plywood box?
What are the approx dimensions / volume capacity?
Have you designed it yourself?
If it is a deep tank, have you taken into account the pressure head of the water that will be contained in the tank?

Hello. Appreciate the interest. Yes the aquarium will have a glass front panel (19mm or 3/4" thick). Aquarium will be built in a wall so no need for additional viewing angles, they can be built that way though. Aquarium is stick built 12" OC with 2x4 sides, 2x6 bottom and overlapping 2x6 top plate. The aquarium will hold roughly 850 gallons and will hold 35" of water. Here is a photo to see the scale.

As you can see a lot of design to ensure it was sturdy, another reason I am using cloth/epoxy. All seams are DBM 1708 and will be doing two layers of 10oz. Afterwards will be coating/painting with a potable water epoxy, interseal 670 hs.

 

[fallguy]

It should work fine. I might be inclined to test the tank to watertight prior to the potable water epoxy. Or add a single coating of neat epoxy or two to weave and pinhole fill.

What about UV? Does the final epoxy have inhibitors? Otherwise. It will yellow.

 

[tbelliot]

It should work fine. I might be inclined to test the tank to watertight prior to the potable water epoxy. Or add a single coating of neat epoxy or two to weave and pinhole fill.

What about UV? Does the final epoxy have inhibitors? Otherwise. It will yellow.

Thanks the plan is to top coat with more neat epoxy utilizing foam roller. The epoxy paint I will utilize is designed for exterior and potable water tanks and has UV inhibitors. Fortunately will also be using LED lighting which will limit UV exposure.

I do like the idea of water testing prior to the epoxy paint though.

 

[tbelliot]

Those are jist voids in uniform sirface peelply would give. Fill them with fairing compound.

Any issues in the fact that weave is only visible in those voided areas? From my research I believed it was best practice to see the weave after initial coat. Then fill the weave with subsequent coats.

 

[fallguy]

Any issues in the fact that weave is only visible in those voided areas? From my research I believed it was best practice to see the weave after initial coat. Then fill the weave with subsequent coats.

No issue. The best thing to do is to fill within primary bonding window. Otherwise, scratch it if you can a bit.

You don't see the weave when you use peelply, so your peelply misses are basically looking like it would without peelply is all.