: I'm almost finished my first kayak, a guillemot, but on the second fill coat
: on the hull, I think I may have waited too long. I didn't see any blush
: but there are a few spots where the epoxy beaded up even after being
: re-rolled. I am using US composites medium hardener. Any advice??? Thanks.
: Doug

Hi Doug,
Just for your own piece of mind, you didn't do anything wrong or wait too long, it's the epoxy and hardener combination. You won't necessarily see the blush, but you sure can feel it. It's greasy, like the surface was sprayed with WD-40. I used this same combination on many boat related projects this year, including one boat that I did my own little comparison with Raka and found that in every case the US Comp (3:1 Med) blushed horribly. With very little resin left in a gallon jug, I called them and they sent me their 2:1 slow hardener (free) and have not had problems since (although I still believe Raka is superior). Blush is not that big of deal if you take care of it (I sand it lightly and then hose it off), before you apply the next coat. The issue that you're describing fits exactly as would be expected and must be cleaned up (I would recommend sanding your fill coat off) before you put the final coat(s) on. I also think you should contact them and tell them that you are not satisfied with their product and that it has added additional clean-up steps to your project. They need to know about problems like this or they will continue to sell this hardener to people and end up with many unhappy customers. I do think their slow hardener works much better and will be ordering more of it in the near future (mostly for models and paddles). Call 'em up and ask them to send you some slow hardener to use with the remaining resin you already have. Or just take the clean-up steps after each coat. Well, that's been my experience with this stuff. Don't be discouraged, your boat will still turn out great, just mark this down as a learning experience and don't forget to let us know how it turns out.
Smf