Arthur Kill
Member
I'll echo that West System is great stuff and well worth the cost. It's more or less the standard for both hobbyists and many professional shops. We use the slow hardener for carbon fiber composite layups, and it has about an hour-ish of working time at room temperature, we can usually remove parts from the mold about 24 hours later. If you're working outdoors this time of year or in an unheated garage, you might get a little extra working time and longer cure time. They do make an extra-slow hardener; I would avoid it. Never used it myself, but I have an experienced friend who says it takes an eternity to fully cure.
Good luck with the project, these boats are an absolute blast on the water! I know the pain of a heavy boat, I've been drying mine out all winter. I wish I would have weighed it before I started drying, but it was probably similar to yours. It's noticeably lighter now, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it handles on the water. Yours will get down to something more manageable eventually.
Thanks for the info. Most of the generic kit combos of resin/hardener for novices I've seen so far don't have an option for the speed of the drying process - but I've heard it spoken of here many times. I'm still learning.
I have the boat at the edge of my driveway right now with a computer fan running. So, it's kinda in the way and the extension cord is a tripping hazard for the kids. So, I'm probably gonna move it to the back yard with the realization that this is gonna take months, not weeks. I'm also not convinced that the fan is doing much. I smoke tested the exit/cut and I didn't notice a big difference between in air flow between fan/no fan. Any passing breeze or gust of wind seems to move the internal air pretty efficiently so I'll probably bag the fan and extension cord. Natural will take it's course.
Can't wait till it's a manageable weight and to finally get it in the water.
