I need some gel coat assistance

[FLJetBoater]

Oops.

Well, you are where you are, right? Cover it and let it sit until tomorrow. Then evaluate. It will either be fully hardened and look and feel like normal gelcoat or... not. If so, sand and polish it up and call it a win. If not, sand it up a bit to even it out, Dremel out the bad stuff and try again.

That's the nice part about gelcoat. Even when you screw it up, there is grace and redemption.

Thanks! The stuff that's basically almost on fire (it was smoking for a bit) in the can looks like normal gelcoat. So maybe there's hope lol.

Did see on some other sites that the MEKP basically just causes a reaction which heats the gelcoat which causes it to cure. So, too much may not do anything bad aside from shortening your working time as the temperature increases too fast.

 

[tdonoughue]

Well, too much will cause it to heat/cure too quickly--that is certain. The question is whether you have enough in there that there will be leftover after the reaction, such that it leaves gaps/holes in the gelcoat or makes it crumbly. And there we are. It is either yes or no. You'll know when it cures up, I anticipate. When you sand it will flake off or look like swiss cheese (or not have the right color or something), or it will be normal and everything will be fine.

Do let us know what you find tomorrow. And don't forget the pics. Not trying to rub it in or anything, but this is how we build our knowledge base. Someday someone else is going to overmix. You are providing them a roadmap of what happens and what to do. When you get to the top of the mountain, you turn around and help up the next guy.