Is it too cold to Epoxy

[MuddlerOH]

Fellas,

It's been awhile, but I am back to the pirogue. When I left, the pirogue was assembled and I was about to filet. Well, it is at the same stage, but one seam did not take. Once that is patched, it is time to filet.

One question. I have the regular old Raka hardener. Will it work in weather where the highs are in the high 50's low 60's and it gets down to the high 30's at night?

Thanks,

Mudd

 

[Jimmy W]

The Raka website says that the 350 hardener can be used down to 60 degrees. I did use it for tacking between some of the stitches when the temp was right at 60 and cooled down to the 40's at night. It seemed to do OK, but was slow curing. I have since moved my pirogue into the basement where it has been staying probably in the 60's. This is my first build, so I don't have much experience, but it seems to almost quit curing when it gets too cool and then finishes curing when it warms back up. Before I got it moved into the basement, one night when I was worried about it getting too cool, I covered it up with a double layer of a plastic tarp and left a light bulb burning under the inverted boat to keep it a little warmer.