Epoxy takes days to cure when very cold

[tronic72]

Hi,

I filled a heap of holes yesterday and came back today to find the holes in varying degrees of hardness (or softness). This was the second time this happened so I began to investigate via the “interwebs”. First I suspected the ratio was wrong but I am pretty pedantic with this and stuffing up the ratio once was plausible but twice seemed unlikely.

Next I looked into the “fillers” which I was given by a colleague because I left mine at the house but upon asking him he said the fillers (used to lightly thicken the epoxy) were fine as he’s used them weeks prior.

I then noticed that the epoxy outside was less hard then that in the cabin and this got me thinking that maybe there was an issue with the temperature. So I called the manufacturer and they advised that providing I stirred it long enough and got the ratios right it would eventually go off.

Finally (and I should have looked at this first), when I mix epoxy I always do so on a square or cardboard taped to a piece of ply. I do this so I can see when and if the product has cured. Id forgotten this piece of ply was in the bilge and as per the manufacturers advice the thin residue of epoxy has in fact cured.

Moral of the story for other members to learn from this; during cold temps epoxy can take days to cure, but given time and heat if possible will eventually set up.

Hope this proves useful and stops others having to unnecessarily remove epoxy (like I did) that may just have needed more time.

Cheers.