I used a roller for the first coat on the inside of my hull before, and got a lot of air injected which clouded the epoxy in one area. The roller got gunked up and started to kick off. I changed to another one, and the same thing happened. I got along well for 10-15 minutes, and when it started to kick, got lots of air in the epoxy. Another whitish patch. I assume those areas of the lamination are weaker.

Those rollers actually began to smoke as the epoxy in them hardened. I reckon each one was holding several dollars worth of resin that just hardened into moonrocks. I shoulda stuffed them into the endpour spaces. They were too hot to squeeze out in there.

My 2 cents, get some good spreaders, take good care of the edges, and go for it. The dump and spread sounds nuts, but it actually works very well. Least for me. You gotta get that stuff out of the pot and into a thin layer pretty quck.

: Personally I don't like putting on the first coat of epoxy with a roller for
: several reasons. Rollers tend to introduce much more air into the mix than
: just spreading with a spreader. I also find it harder to get a good amount
: on to saturate. Having said that, some epoxies are much more viscous than
: the West that I use and may work better with rollers.

: I pour the epoxy on, spread it around at a moderate pace and then pull off
: excess with the spreader once it begins to set up. It is always better to
: put a little more on than is needed on the first coat and pull off excess
: than to not apply enough and have dry spots.

: On subsequent coats (fill coats), I pour less on, spread it out with the
: spreader and then roll it to get an even coat. You will go through many
: more rollers if that is all you use since they only last so long - fall
: apart if very wet and epoxy will tend to set up as you proceed on your
: project - so you will be throwing more away.

: Once you roll, you still need to "tip off" with either a dry brush
: or another dry roller. With patience, it is surprizing how smooth you can
: get the fill coats with just a spreader and tipping off. I have had
: customers in my shop that have done such a great job going slow that they
: only needed to wet sand the finished boat by hand before varnish.