The book said "you must begin to squeegee about 30 minutes after the epoxy has been applied". To me that was pretty clear. I noted the time I started, added 30 minutes to that and began to squeegee the excess epoxy off. The photo below shows what the finished product looks like. (This is not just what it looked like the day I did it. This is what it looks like today.) My work area was only 63F - not what I'd consider warm. I was using the System Three epoxy with medium hardener. Apparently the epoxy kicked off in less than 30 minutes and I could not remove the excess.

Ouch! That's a classic! Glass floating on excess resin and then the resin thickens and cannot be removed with a squeegee.

On my first stripper canoe I had several friends help, mixing resin and I had a hull bottom that looked like that.

I have worked alone ever since. I found it too distracting to have others around.

Resin starts to thicken the moment the hardener is mixed in. This is why I mix only small batches, never more than 6 oz. at a time.

Warm SHOP temperatures 80˚+ will thin resin and warm everything to keep resin thin. Heating resin and applying a thin coat to a cold boat is a waste of time. Warm temperatures require a slow hardener with epoxy.

I recommend a seal coat for beginners because you don't have to wonder, "Has the wood gotten resin?" and "How long should I wait to squeegee off excess resin if I do a bare wood/ dry glass wet-out?"

With a seal coat on the wood, a warm shop, and small batches of resin applied, you can see when the glass has absorbed resin. When I have wet-out half the boat I squeegee off excess resin before wetting-out the other half, inside or out.

The biggest weight gain most builders get is on the inside of the hull. It's easy to pour a big bucket of resin in that big bowl and spread it around and not be able to remove all the excess.

I would NOT recommend a novice use a heat gun to remove bubbles! A heat gun will create bubbles in a second if not used with skill and care. If you wish to see EXTREME wood off gassing apply resin to wood and hit it with a heat!

For details on how I get a transparent lay-up see - http://www.laughingloon.com/epoxy.html

Good Luck

Rob