: I'm thinking of coating the floor of the cockpit area with a mix of
: epoxy/colloidal silica/graphite powder. Questions: Will it provide
: abrasion resistance? Will the graphite powder come off and stain any
: equipment that's in the cockpit? Would it be a better idea to just use
: epoxy and colloidal silica?

: Thanks in advance,

: Pedro Almeida

Hi Pedro-

I did this on the interior of my Night Heron. It doesn't come off, but I wasn't happy with the durability. Seemed to get scuffed up easily. Then I was reading Bjorn Thomasson's web site and realized that since I didn't add a thixotropic agent like collodial silica the graphite had probably settled leaving bare epoxy on the outer layer. I hit it with some medium Scotch Brite and either it erased the scuff marks and added a scratch pattern that makes the new ones less visible, or it exposed the graphite and added that lubricious abrasion-resistant surface I was looking for. I'd go for it if it's what you want. It's no harder to patch up than paint if it doesn't work, and if you don't like it you can always add paint on top of it later.

The p.s. that may matter is that in the cockpit area I used West 105/207, and it was kind of runny and tended to really settle. In the compartments I used 105/205 and it didn't settle like that, but I don't care if that gets messed up.

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