Trip Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 There’s no knowledge more valuable than a hard-earned lesson – except maybe someone else’s hard-earned lesson...This seems to be lessons-learned week for me, so I might as well pass them along as they come... Don’t problems come in threes?Number two for the week:Finished my garden planter project... QSWO, DominoXL, CPES, Epifanes. Turned-out rather well, if I do say do myself... Pre-finished all components with two coats of CPES, assembled, pinned all the Dominos, sanded all surfaces, ready for a final coat of CPES to protect the wood and five coats of high-solids-UV marine varnish to protect the CPES...Laid-down a couple of those disposable tarps to protect the deck, applied the CPES – no problem, done this probably a dozen or three times over the years.... Played some golf, returned to apply the varnish – and found the planters stuck to the tarps – no problem – which were stuck to the deck – problem – it’s going to be a long week...The CPES had eaten through the tarps and fused in a gunky-sticky tarp/cpes/qswo/redwood amalgam...Since I’d done this so often, what went wrong? Three things... Since the planters were rather large and getting UHMW protective pads anyway, I didn’t need to recoat the bottom of the feet, so I didn’t raise them off the ground with painter’s pyramids – this allowed the CPES to pool a bit at the bottom of the feet... Second, it was quite hot (well, hot for NJ, not Arizona) at 90F for much of the afternoon. Third, recycled poly in the tarps... Like other formulations of epoxy, it cures via chemical reaction – an exothermic reaction... The combo of a small pool of CPES, high ambient temps and cheap poly allowed the CPES to burn-through the protective tarp...Now for the important question, has anyone used a card scraper on a deck? I need to work smartly before the wife sees this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPCV_Woodworker Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Power pressure washer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted August 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Unfortunately, this isn't exactly my first incident with CPES over the years... A pressure washer works at the margins, but not the dry stuff in the middle... If I use a tight nozzle, it'll remove the CPES, but will also remove the decking... Sort of a catch-22... However, a 15d or 20d nozzle will get the margins and feather-in my removal effort -- figure if I move the dirt around enough, it'll be harder to spot... Sort of a, "Look what I accomplished today Honey -- cleaned the deck" approach"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted August 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Indeed, card scrapers work well on deck planking... Much of the CPS had dried, but it takes about a day or two to fully cure... So was hard, but not rock-solid... Turned a medium hook and took the epoxy down, kind of scuff-sanded the margins to blend and rubbed-in a handful of dirt to hide the difference in tone... Can't tell from 10 feet... Once again, spared a fate worse then death... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted August 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 I got it directly from Smith's via their store front, The Rot Doctor: http://www.rotdoctor.com/It costs a bit more from the factory (about $215/gal + $25) vs $199/gal delivered, but it is what it is...I called about the distribution issues and got some pretty evasive answers... Oh well, it's a good product... I purchased the Total Boat equivalent -- don't bother. Even at $80 cheaper, it's not worth the price... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Maybe try taking a rag soaked with acetone or lacquer thinner and let it it on the epoxy glops for a little while (20 min or so) and see if that will loosen the bond enough to get underneath with ah scraper and pop it off?Two potential problems: the solvent will likely remove any finish you have on the deck, and if prying the epoxy off there is the possibility that some wood may come with it :-/ Been there, it sucks. I once epoxied a $200 bottle of compound to the deck of a boat.. Not cool...Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted August 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Went the scraper method to avoid adding solvents to the equation... It worked quite well... Never underestimate the power of card scraper... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 Sharp solves all sorts of problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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