> O.K bear with me because this problem has me freaked.

> Last fall I finished installing the deck, coaming, etc on my CLC Mill
> Creek. I worked in the living room at 70 degrees . . . and the Matrix
> Adhesive System Epoxy
> was well mixed, 3+ minutes, per batch. The kayak sat in the living room
> for almost a month after I stopped working . . . the epoxy had every
> opportunity to set up, cure, and solidify which it had seemed to do. . . .
> The basement temp > is a constant 48. Today
> as I was hauling the kayak out to sand it I noticed that one sheer seemed
> wet and mildly sticky. Suffice it to say the fluid which had run from the
> deck hull sheer joint down the sides and collected on the joint with the
> bottom smelt and felt like uncured epoxy.

> . . .
> So what do I do? I think that I can remove the epoxy like material with
> paper towels and paint thinner or something similar(???!). The deck seems
> to still be well fastened and is not loose. The coaming is not suffering
> from a similar problem and the problem is pretty much confined to one area
> of the kayak. Namely the section that was lowest as it hung in its loops
> suspended from the ceiling. HELP?

> Should I bring the kayak back upstairs?

Yes. and/or then take it outside.

>Inject newly mixed epoxy into the
> effected area?

Absolutely not.

> Ignore everything if it seems structuraly sound and get on
> with painting after I have cleaned it up?

Basically, yes. Sanding will do two things: Smooth the areas that have properly set, and show you the areas where you have problems with uncured resin. See the long answer below.

> All hints, solutions, questions and advice will be greatly appreciated. I
> don't want to see my work go to waste. Thanks in advance.

Take it outside and start sanding. Before you sand the area that seems to have liquid epoxy on it, try to physically remove the stuff with a scraper. Don't use chemicals, which might damage the hardened epoxy as well as remove the unhardened stuff -- if that is what it is.

If your resin has not setup hard enough by now it may never set up. In that case you will have to remove any and all areas that are affected by uncured resin. Completely. Then you will have to treat those areas the same as you would if you were patching a large hole. That means feathering the bonded glass and cured resin, applying a patch that over laps the area, using fresh resin, and then sanding the edges of the patch to feather them into the already glassed areas. Of course you have to put on several coats of resin to fill the weave, and then sand the whole boat smooth before varnishing.

Last chance salvage attempt: You might try wrapping the thing in a sealed ( lots of duct tape) black plastic sheet and leaving it in the hot sun for a day or two before you go at sanding. The heat may cause the resin to cure, ( if it is going to) or to run off faster (if it will never cure) Either way is a resolution of your problem in one way or another. If the resin cures, when you sand it it will be smooth and ready for varnish. If the resin runs, the glass will come off when you sand it -- and you would need to remove all the bad areas before re glassing the boat.

Chances are that you mixed several batches of resin as you applied the cloth, and later mixed even more batches when you went to fill the weave of the cloth. If you mixed one bad batch (there are plenty of ways to do this, trust me!) then you'll certainly find where you applied it to as you sand. The good areas will sand nicely, the bad areas will be a mess.

If the resin that bonded the cloth to the boat was properly mixed then the structural integrity should be just fine. Remove the additional junkie layer(s) of resin and replace them to properly fill the weave. If you sand through the cloth, feather the edges and patch over it.

If the base/bonding coat of resin, or for that matter ALL the resin on the boat is bad, then you are going to have to remove it all (lots of messy sanding). This is definitely a worst case scenario. Fortunately, I doubt that the consistency of the whole boat is like honey. You would have noticed this problem last year if all the resin had not set up, so perhaps there is not too much that has to come off.

If your only problem area is rather small -- a puddle of unknown origin -- and the rest of the boat is sound, then get the puddle out, cover that area with a fresh coat of resin if needed, and get to varnishing.

It is possible that the mess you have is sitting on the surface of properly cured resin. Perhaps some unmixed resin or hardener leaked from the bottle during construction and finally settled in the lowest spot after months of draining. This si the best case scenario. In this case, you remove the goop, inspect the area under neath it to see if the cloth is firmly bonded to the wood, and when you have sanded the area you should be able to go on and varnish it.

Best of luck with this. Let us know how it comes out.

Paul Jacobson