I've got a butt wrap that I put two coats of Flex Coat Lite on about three weeks ago. It;s dry, but doesn't have the hard, smooth finish of the other guides. I've been experimenting with Flex Coat Lite, Flex Coat High Build, LS Supreme, and Gen 4. I'm really impressed with the Gen 4. Would it be permissible to rough up the finish on the wrap and add a thin coat of Gen 4 Light Build?

Dave Sytsma

I will be very surprised if putting one brand of two-part rod finish over another cured brand causes any issues. While there is a lot of differentiation in these brands, the base chemistry should be relatively similar. Thread finishes don’t appear to be strong solvents. They are also fairly resistant to being dissolved once cured.

It won’t hurt anything. I’ve done it a few times with zero issues.

There are no solvents in 2-part epoxies. They are 100% solids. You should be fine, but I've not seen one brand of epoxy offer a harder or smoother surface than another. You may have something else going on there.

.........

Tom,
I believe you're right. The resin component for the Flex Coat Lite was very cloudy and I should have heated it to mitigate that. I don't know why I thought that the heat generated during the curing process would overcome that; call it another senior moment. I've used it for over 30 years without any major issues. I did another test wrap last night, heating both the components and it looked much better this morning. Even though I've historically used the Flex Coat, I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the Gen 4 leveled out as opposed to the other three, but they all leveled out as they are supposed to do.

Thanks everyone for your opinions!

Dave

I’m a big Flex Coat fan too, but I switched to Gen4 awhile back and it’s now my go to. I’ll still use Flex Coat if Gen4 is unavailable, however.

Daryl,
I was sorely tempted to recoat that wrap with Flex Coat, but used the Gen4 instead. Looks amazing. Still have bottles of both the Flex Coat Lite and High Build, and I think I screwed up as indicated in my last post. I'll still use it up on ice rods and other things, but Gen4 has another convert.

Tom Kirkman Wrote:
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> There are no solvents in 2-part epoxies. They are
> 100% solids. You should be fine, but I've not seen
> one brand of epoxy offer a harder or smoother
> surface than another. You may have something else
> going on there.
>
> .........

True, but the term “solvent” is more universal in meaning. Many chemicals, especially liquids, have some ability to dissolve some other chemicals at even very slow rates. Water is known as the “universal solvent” while not usually being classified as an industrial solvent. This is the context of the term I was referencing. Either way, different brands of these casting resin/hardener systems shouldn’t dissolve each other.