: I've worked with System Three regular resin for more than twenty
: years and I'm very confortable
: with flawless application of that resin.

: So, silly me, I decided to try some MAS epoxy when someone here
: posted, it was on sale, last year.

: Next I worked in cooler temperatures hoping that might allow more
: time for any bubbles to rise and break.
: I rolled on thin fill coats on the hull and found huge amounts of
: very ting bubbles even after tipping off with
: a brush. Then I remembered Nick talking about using a heat gun to
: get rid of bubbles with MAS, so I did that.

: Is this what other users of MAS are experiencing?
: Most of all, I want to let people reading this BB to know just how
: different materials can be from brand to brand.
: This makes it very difficult to know, if when people ask about
: problems on this BB, are the problems because of inexperience,
: or because a brand has qualities which are different from the
: experience of people suggesting help.

: Probably few people will notice the difference unless they have
: worked with various brands.

: So, be aware that different brands of epoxy may handle and act very
: differently. Read the directions carefully
: and do a few test panels.

I have always cringed at your insistence on using a roller to apply resin instead of my dump-and-spread method with a squeegee. I've always felt that a roller tended to froth-up the resin too much. However, It seems that several years ago something changed in the MAS formulation which caused more bubbles. I have to work harder to avoid bubbles now than I used to. If MAS had more tendency to foam/froth up before relative to other brands it appears that the characteristic has increased.

I have talked to the folks at MAS about the issue and they insist that nothing has changed, but I am not the only one who has noticed. Your comments here suggest that we probably aren't imagining things.

I am still getting good results with my methods, but the care I take is slowing me down.

I second your comments about being cognizant that different resins work in different ways. I can't say I have ever been happy with all of your recommendations for clear layups because they didn't leave much room for variations in how different epoxy systems handle. I.e. rolling vs squeegee.

EpoxyWorks magazine from Gougeon/West System just had a good article about bubble free coating and they recommend flow coating, pouring from the bottom of the container and using a blow torch to eliminate bubbles, so it is obvious that there are many ways to approach the problem. I guess it does say something about the safety of using epoxy around open flames if a blow torch is OK.