: I sanded my hull down, cleaned with paint thinner and put a final coat of
: epoxy down. Applied with a brush, rolled it with a foam roller and then
: tipped it out with a brush. Looked great, for about 2 minutes. Then it
: took on an orange peel look! Anyone know what causes this?

: I used system 3 resin and fast hardner. I'm thinking it may have something to
: do with the fast hardner. I have not seen this with the slow.

: Dwight

Hi Dwight

I can't say for certain, as I'm not familiar with your particular products, but, when finishing cabinets, and getting an orange-peel look, it was because I applied too much material in one coat. About the only remedy is to sand it down until you can eleminate all the "pimples" and recoat with thin, light coats. It's always better to build with many thin coats and lightly sand in between. I have done pieces where I would put on around 15 to 18 coats of laquer. I wet sand with silicon/carbide paper of around 400 grit with the first 4 ot 5 coats, then 600 up to the final coat. Then after it all has cured, I use a lightweight oil and rottenstone to rub out the finish. Time and patience is the key, along with the many thin coats. Ian Johnson is probably the one to ask about your Orange Peel, as he could probably give you the scoop about the why's and wherefore's. My idea would be that when it is too thick, the outer skin dries before the inner layer can. But, I'm guessing.

With this beautiful weekend everybody that isn't at Port Townsend is probably out paddling, or camping. May have to wait a day or two for your answer. I know for sure that you will have to sand off the orange peel, so, as soon as it's dry or hard enough, you could start on that.

Sometimes I think that the orange-peel effect is supposed to be "IN" cause if you look at most new cars these days, they are all sporting that in their paint. That's probably because they do it all on assembly lines now and mostly by machines. Machines can't see when they put on too much, they just send it on down the line. Hope that helps till the calvary returns.

Rehd