Interesting outgassing observation. I thought I would pass along to you all what I observed Last night while putting the sealer coat of epoxy on my new kayak paddle. This morning I had found that the paddle had a bad gas problem over night while curing. While I'm not concerned with the bubbles as it is only the sealer coat, as they will be sanded out before the glass goes on. But for those of you who do not plan on using a sealer coat, a similar situation could cause you some problems. The paddle is made with Pine, Cedar, and Mahogany, the pine showed no sign of out gassing, Cedar had a few bubbles, but the Mahogany was covered in bubbles. I never have worked with Mahogany before, but I certainly will be more careful when glassing the mahogany hull for my new kayak.

What I did wrong (I think). Well it's getting cold here in Saskatchewan about -1 Celsius last night, the workspace is heated to a comfortable +20 degrees Celsius with a radiant heater. The mistake I made was that the temp in the room was rising as I epoxyed the paddle, but even worse, I applied epoxy to a cool surface and then raised the temp of the paddle, as the epoxy was curing. That's what happens when you place an object close to a radiant heater.

What I will do differently next time. I will most certainly allow the temperature in the room stabilize, and maybe attempt to raise the temperature of the paddle (or kayak) slightly above room temp. Then start to epoxy.

What do you think? Is this what my problem is? Any other thoughts as to why the mahogany was affected more than the other wood species.

Regards Derek