I am currently building two grouper rods and upon applying the second coat of epoxy I am noticing that the epoxy is not sticking in some places. The first coat goes on great and I make sure not to touch the epoxy after it dries as to not contaminate, however, the second coat always comes out with dimples, regardless of how much epoxy I apply. The problem I have now is that there is a sufficient amount of epoxy on the guides and I don't want to have to put a third coat on to cover the dimples especially if the third coat does the same thing. I was thinking of putting a light coat of permagloss on. Any suggestions on why this is happening and what to do now.

Scott

I would guess there was some contaminate on the first coat of epoxy, on your brush, or in your mixing cup.
If it were me, I'd take some 300grit paper, lightly sand down the whole guide, clean with denatured alcohol, and apply a thin third layer.
RB

If you applied the second coat after the first had already been on the rod for more than a couple days, what has happened is that the first coat is repelling the second. This is normal because hard and glossy surfaces tend to repel things that are applied to them.

What you should have done, is scuff the first coat with Scotchbrite before applying the second coat. Not that it helps you much now.

Applying Permagloss over what you have there will just likely create even more of a mess. I would scuff the finish, apply another coat of epoxy. If you feel that's going to put too much weight on the wraps/rod, then it may be time to either sand the wraps down and re-coat, or just strip them off and start over.

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Thanks for the replys. On the Flex Coat website it mentions to thin epoxy by adding a small amount of acetone, do you recommend this? Tom, do you always scuff the first coat with Scotchbrite before applying the second coat? Why does this only happen sometimes if it is natural for all hard and glossy surfaces to repel things applied to them?

Scott

You should only need to scuff the first coat if you wait more than 24 hrs to apply the second coat. IF you apply within this window things should not repel. At least this is my experiences.

I would never add a solvent to my epoxy finish.

If the epoxy has not cured very far, and it won't have done so in less than 48 hours in most cases, then it won't repel a second application and in fact, the two will meld and become one single coat. More than about 48 hours, however, and you now have two separate coats.

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"the two will meld and become one single coat"

I have to add to that, the two may? meld..... and they may not, depending on the epoxy underneith.

I had a few troubles starting out with epoxy until I figured "my" way of doing it. In this learning curve, I had a rod with epoxy that would not dry, it got to the point where it was still slightly tacky and stayed there. I re-coated as instructed by the all the builders and the epoxy maker.

The re-coat sat up just fine (new bottles of epoxy-same brand) After a week or two I decided to see how "set" the epoxy really was and if the two did in fact meld. To my dis-may, I could "roll off" the hard topcoat and still had the sticky problem with the 1st epoxy underneith. Nothing "melded". The new coat that DID set, was applied thin as instructed and let cure until it was tough hard, but that didn't effect the undercoat/1st coat, that never set up.

Maybe it was just "me", or my case, or my epoxy on the 1st coat was a bad batch...who knows?.....but I know this, I'll never recoat over sticky epoxy that doesn't set again. I think the best policy is just rip it off and start over however painful that may be....at least you know it's done right with that method.

Taking the time to measure out your two parts of epoxy PERFECTLY, sure is worth the effort!

DR

DR
Glad you mentioned that. I have never had to recoat any undried epoxy and now that I have herd you if it ever happens I don't think I ever will.
I wonder if others have had the same problem but did not want to say it did not work because they thought it was there fault ??

May be Bill?....I'm surely not scared to speak the truth......

I know it was most likely my fault.

The re-coating thing to me with epoxy being soft and will not dry under, just didn't seem like such a good idea. So.....I wanted to test it out and see if it really did meld together and be "ok". As you read above, it DIDN'T. I stripped it all off and re-did it correctly.

Seemed like I was just covering up something gone bad and I just couldn't/wouldn't leave it alone until I knew for myself if doing such was the "right" thing to do.

Like you said, and I agree, I'll never "cover" another :-)

DR

I don't know what happened in your case. A lot is said here to mix another batch and if mixed right it will harden correctly.
I guess maybe yours did not mix together ??
Maybe if as much as possible was taken off and there was hardly any unmixed , it would be alright ??
I take my syringes now and have " A ' and " B " marked on them.
I now put permagloss on them to keep the letters from smearing off.

"Maybe if as much as possible was taken off and there was hardly any unmixed , it would be alright ?? "

Thats exactly what I did. I had a very thin 1st coat that dried fine, the 2nd is what stayed sticky, the third covered the sticky. I finally removed the third, the sticky one and redone it from the 1st light one up. That will work and is fine, you've removed the problem.

DR