Couple of leaks due to hull board seperation, can anyone suggest a suitable/effective fixing.
Internal hull has a thick epoxy resin which has cracked in places and traps water between resin and boards. Any suggestions how to best remove resin and retreat planks. Advice before i try something !! would be appreciated. Thanks

Easiest way to remove resin is with a hot air gun. You have to be careful not to burn the wood though.

Just hot enough to soften the epoxy then scrape it off. Once removed, open up plank joint and clean, Allow to thoroughly dry out. Re epoxy [sp systems] joint and use 12mm chipboard screws as clamps [from the outside]. remove once set and fill holes, smooth over and repaint.

Agree previous comment re technique. I used a fair bit of West System epoxy during the coldest part of the winter in renovating 2789. It always cured well. SP was also recommended but it was not so readily available. For recoating Ben Marshall (MR 2529) recommended 2 coats of International UCP as primer, rather than epoxy, to avoid the problem you have described.
Good luck with the repair.

Another excellent product (which I have used to great effect in the past) is SP Systems Eposeal - it's a very liquid epoxy that soaks right into and wets out the woodfibres before curing...this might perhaps help with 'seperation'problems.

Hmm i would trust eposeal to do that. It's not a glue.

Best stuff is SP 106 or West equivalent applied with a roller and warmed up as you apply it with a hairdryer or heat gun on a low setting. A little then much further and it soaks right in just like eposeal but is a much better adhesive.

Should have read "Wouldn't trust eposeal to do that"

Oops.

Chris

Wasn't suggesting Eposeal as a glue at all - merely an epoxy coating that might help prevent seperation problems and further water ingress between coating and wood.......!

However from now on will refrain from imparting any of my 20 yrs experience in restoring old boats on this website!

Oh - and btw - SP106 isn't any good for coating......you need SP320 for that.................! (Just follow that manufacturers guidelines.

Eposeal won't stick fibres back together though. If the wood has surface cracks in it along the grain (Which is what i thought you meant) eposeal is a very temporary solution in our experience as it's adhesive qualities are inadequate. Primer for wood in good condition yes, solution to structural problems with old wood not really.

SP 320 is what they tell you to use for coating, but it's quite expensive and exudes enormous quantities of wax when it's cured which makes it a right pain to prep for varnishing. So for old boats where the wood colour has faded anyway I don't believe that it's very marginally clearer coating properties are worth the extra hassle afterwards. New boats are obviously a differant matter.

Not belittleing your experience, we all have our differant methods.

For glueing use SP106, mixed with some colloidal sillica (to thicken the mixture and micro-fibres. It's the micro-fibres that actually give the strength to the glue mixture and help create a 'bridge' in any gaps.

Sorry to have to disagree with Chris, but 106 is entirely UNsuitable for clear coating as it very rapidly goes a milky yellow colour.

Yes, 320 isn't cheap and it does take a little extra work, however the pay off is that it doesn't need done again for a long time. A friend totally epoxied his Albacore 10 yrs ago - and all it needs is a light rub down every other season and another coat of varnish put on top (varnish is vital as 320 isn't all that UV stable). The Alb still looks wonderful!

All epoxy goes milky yellow with UV exposure, 106 may do it sooner than 320 if it's not over coated correctly but i've never, ever had a 106 job do it when overcoated with 5 coats of single pack or two pack polyurethane.

Interestingly West don't do a 320 equivalent, but they do a "clear coating" hardener for their standard 105 resin and I believe (Though i've not tested it yet.) that SP do the same but charge you a fortune for it instead and don't sell it separately.

lol - yeah - but who want's to put 5 coats on when 2 will do!!

Yeah - your right about the West quivalent......also been thinking about trying some of the Blue Gee products out!

I was really p******d off with SP last year when all of a sudden they doubled the price of their Ultravar overnight. Thought it a good product at 30 quid a pop - but 60's a bit steep!! Think it'll be International Perfection from now on!

That's why your 106 goes yellow!

Personally I would rather put on 2 coats of 106 then 4 or 5 of varnish than 3 coats of 320 and 2 varnish. It's cheaper by far, as good if not better protection and much, much more user friendly.

To each his own :-)

Personally - I prefer to stick with both the experts and the manufacturers who catagorically advise against clear coating with 106! I'm sure they know far better than most as to what they're talking about.