Hello,

I* am re-coat a canoe. I've done this before and all went well. But, this time I think either the surfacing agent was bad or I misapplied it.

It’s been a week since I applied the gelcoat. I applied 3-4 coats with a roller. Each had the correct amount of catalyst in it and was well mixed. The final coat had the surfacing agent in it, but I fear here is where I messed up. In prior gelcoat jobs the surfacing agent was clear, but it cooled it would turn “cloudy” — I assume the wax coming out of solution. This stuff had huge bits of wax floating around even at 75+ degrees.

T*he surface is *"hard" in the sense that it isn't tacky, but I still get tiny amounts under my fingernail if I pick at it. It looks fine until some water gets on it and then it “spots” where the water touches it. After the water is gone the original color returns. I’ve attache a photo.

What are my options at this point? Would covering it with wax work? If I can find it, would PVA work? Or, do I need to sand? If I have to sand, how much? (I ****really*** hope I don’t have to remove all the new layers.)

Thanks so much for any advice.

Sincerely,

Samantha

PS, I've tried to add a photo but I guess I'm to new here to be able to do so as I get "You are not allowed to post URLs until you have at least 10 posts"

When this happened to me I had to start over by sanding and washing it back off with solvent. Hopefully someone smarter than me can help with a better solution. Interesting thread (and common problem imo).

The top layer is probably just gummy. If you spray it down with pva I think it will dry. I have also washed down the gummy top layer with laquer thinner and it was dry on the underlayers. Jeff Wurl

<<< I have also washed down the gummy top layer with laquer thinner>>>

Does this mean you used laquer thinner to remove the top layer?

Thank you.