Epoxy

When I was first thinking about ordering a Pygmy Boat, I noticed that they use SystemThree epoxy. I immediately went to the SystemThree Web site and discovered that they sell a Trial Kit. It seemed to me that my intelligent use of epoxy would have a huge impact on my success with the kit so I ordered the Trial Kit. The kit comes with the same Epoxy Book that Pygmy will include with the kayak kit, a sample of the epoxy, some fiberglass and more. So, before I even ordered the boat I had some experience with the epoxy.

My work area during the construction stayed at 63 degrees. I mounted a lamp socket on a scrap of material and installed a 25 watt light bulb in it. I placed this "heater" near the epoxy and put the shipping box down over this grouping. I never measured the temperature of this device but it really helped keep the viscosity low and reduced the amount of bubbles that form when mixing.

My primary epoxy tools were plastic picnic cups for mixing, craft sticks for stirring and inexpensive aluminum biscuit pans. In most cases you want to get the epoxy into a shallow container (the biscuit pan) very quickly after thoroughly mixing. This prevents the heat of the reaction from building up and causing rapid curing.

Read the Epoxy Book several times. It will be time well spent.