Fibreglass

[Michaelb]

I have just finished my first ever attempt at fibreglassing,all appears to have gone well.However, when i filled the fibreglassed container with water there appeared to be a white waxy coating on the top coat,when the water was emptied and the fibreglass dried it went back to the green colour,is this normal? have I done something wrong ?

I mixed 2% catalyst with 1 kg topcoat and waited two days for it to go off.

any help gratefully received

[Bob Hart]

Michael,

Flowcoating can be a bit of a black art. 2% catalyst is normally the correct amount to put in the flowcoat, but .......

1. You must not let strong sunlight get onto the flowcoat while it is drying. The sun will make it very hot and dry too quick. The catalyst is a hardener and as the flowcoat dries/hardens it shrinks slightly and the wax is pushed to the surface. If it dries too quickly this doesnt happen. (explanation from a very reputable fibreglass company)
2. In very hot weather the 2% could be reduced down to as low as 1%, to slow the drying/hardening.

So the weather is critical to the flowcoating.

It has been also said to me by a well known pond building company, that although it may have gone off too quickly and then goes white, ponds that they have had this happen to have never had any Koi health problems. The pond just looks an off colour for a while, but soon algae's over anyway and goes black.

There may of course be people with other opinions, these answers are to questions I have asked previously.

[Michaelb]

Thanks Bob
I will press on and fill with water

mike.