Hey ya'll, I just coated a fly rod with Flex Coat high build and after 14 hours its still a little sticky. I measured out 2 drams (1 each) very carefully and mixed very thoroughly. It is very cold where I am (20s) , but its still around 68 in my house.

The cup of excess ( theres a lot) is completely hard except for the very top...


Any suggestions, or should I just give it more time? I'd have to have to re-coat it. I dont htink I could have mixed or measure any more carefully.

Here are some possible answers. 1) Are you sure you mixed it thoroughly ? If the answer is yes then 2) Wait it out for a day. Then recoat. Sounds like it is going off but maybe the temps are retarding it.

It's important to measure out enough epoxy so that if you're off a tad, you have sufficient margin for error. I don't know alot about drams, but think that it's a unit of measure of volume. That's fine. What you can't do, is measure epoxy portions by weight.

You have either not measured as carefully as you think, or not mixed thoroughly enough, or it is cool enough that the tack free time is taking a bit longer than normal.

Keep the rod in that 68F area for 24 hours and see how things progress. If it doesn't set tack free, one of the other issues is your problem. The way to cure it is to apply a thin overcoat of properly measured and mixed epoxy. It will set up on top of what you have now.

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If it is really chilly in your work area give another 8 hours or so before you get to excited about this. Takes quite some time to cure epoxy when it get chilly.

Well i should have waited but i went downstairs and check the actual rod and the finish felt like it was just mixed...not just sticky. I VERY carefully mixed a another 2 drams and mixed VERY VERY thoroughly for like 5 mins straight until the finish was perfectly clear, I think this was my mistake last night.

It had actually been over 16 hours, so i went ahead and applied a nice thin coat of the perfectly mixed epoxy. I hope this fixes the problem, i also added a small space heated to the area.

thanks for your input

Not that you did this, but sometimes a builder will mix up two equal parts, of the same component. As you can suspect, such a mix will not cure and will remain as liquid as it was in the bottle.

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1 dram is about 3.7 cc's....3.696716 cc's............or 1/4 USA ounce fluid. Hope that helps.

Haha well Im sure I didnt mix two equal parts of the same, although Im sure someone has done it. I already notice a difference in the rate that the finish is drying, i must have goofed somehow,

anyways, thanks guys i really appreciate the fast and helpful responses

Ho Ho! I was quite sure that I did not mix two parts of the same all four times that I did!

Gon Fishn

I went through a very short period where I had that same problem. One thing often overlooked is making sure you scrape the sides of the cup to ensure no part of either component gets pushed up along the sides.

Stephen,

I hope that the new coating cures your existing under problem. It may and it may not.

If the undercoating never cures you will still have the problem under the cured topoat of epoxy.

Be sure to test it in a few days with your fingernail, and see if it cured or not. If it didn't, the new cured topcoat of epoxy will just roll right off the still soft undercoating of epoxy.

Re-coating can sometimes be ok to do, other times it just adds to the mess you're going to have to clean off eventually.

I hope it cured your problem! I just wanted everyone to know the "bad" side as well.

DR

i had the same thing happen....i just left it alone because i did it on a rod i dont use just to try it out and like 3 weeks later it was finally cured haha

i think it was because i didnt get the mixture right

Hey guys,

Well the 2nd coat cured VERY nicely in the cup of mixed epoxy, much better than the previous coat, So I can reason that he first coap was improperly mixed... the second coat is still a little sticky on the rod (after careful "inspection") but I think I may just have to give it time to react properly etc. I really hope I dont have to just strip it all off and start again. That would be a mess, Im going to keep it turning until Sunday before I make a final decision. Until then, I will just finish the other 2 pieces of the rod while the other does its thing. Lets hope for the best....

Thanks again for ya'lls help.

Stephen,

You may also put it in a WARM area, that can help too. I put one in the car with the windows rolled up and the sun going...worked well in speeding the drying time!


DR

Hey guys, well this morning when I woke up I bit the bullet, and Im sure glad I did. The autopsy revealed that the layer underneath the 2nd layer had not even come close to curing in the least sense. I am glad I went ahead and cut it all out. It was only 3 guides, a ferrule, one small butt wrap and a hook keeper...but now I have to more or less wrap an entire rod, and finish it.....by tonight! AH!

I came to the conclusion that rod wrapping is much like boat owning. Something is going to go wrong and break eventually, its just a matter of when and what :)

Thanks Duane- if you hadnt warned me I probably would have let it keep drying, but it slipped right off.

Stephen,

I wish it would have cured instead for you, that would have been worth a "thanks" LOL

As you can tell I have "been there" and had to re-do one of mine as well, like you I just tore it all off and started over. After seeing what I did when I tore it all off, I wont suggest a "re-coat" to anyone unless their undercoat is hard, and just "sticky". In that case the overcoat of new works great, in your case-like mine was, it was a lost cause.

I hope you get'er done, and it works out well...then you can laugh about as days pass.

Have a great weekend!

DR