Hi Shawn,

You shouldn't face a significant reduction in strength. I have been involved in aircrafts where the twist of the wings was adjusted by heating the wings and then twisting them. It is common knowledge, that epoxy will soften when you heat it up initially. This is also true with a hull build at 20C. If you put it into 40C heat you may see some shifting. Complete cure is dependent on time and temperature.

Andreas

: So there I was, seams freshly filletted on my Cormorant 16 on Sunday night.
: Raka fast hardener. Put a 500W halogen light under a tarp covering the
: boat all night. Yesterday, I took out the 500W and placed a 100W
: incandescent inside the hull, still under the tarp.

: Last night, the fillets were no longer sticky, but could still be slightly
: dented with a fingernail. Tough enough to pull the wires, methinks.

: I pull about 75% of the wires from the chines, and got to thinking---the goo
: is no longer sticky, and won't drip, so I can bring it into the house to
: get warmer and finish curing faster.

: I set the boat on the couch (don't ask me what Michelle had to say about
: that) and went downstairs to watch TV. Came upstairs to grab a snack, and
: some of the seams had pulled apart--epoxy threads clinging to both panels
: like cheese strings on a slice of double cheese pizza. Oh $#!T!!! The
: epoxy wasn't near cured, and had softened in the 65*F room.

: Fortunately, I still had plenty of wire, and pulled everything back together.
: The epoxy was gooey enough to reform (I'm sure I lost some strength in the
: process, though) and by this morning, they were nice, hard, undentable,
: shiny fillets. Also fortunately, I pulled the panels back into the places
: I had taken so much care to get them into on Sunday, so everything is
: still nice and fair.

: Phew!

: Don't be like Shawn. Haste makes waste. Yadda yadda yadda...

: Shawn