I just finished a disaster emergency repair for my partner. Major spill broke 3 guides. Layed on the epoxy 2 hrs. ago. Aftcote. What is a safe time allotment to use the rod? I realize all the rods I finished w/aftcote the finish dries and hardens but it is pliable . Not like Flexcoat which in a week it gets hard. finger nail doesn't stick in it like Aftcote. One note @ RISAA show I spoke w/ a builder forgot his name, told me that you need to flip the hardner bottle every so often to keep it from seperating. ???? I did any way. What do you think?

Once it tacks up so it doesn't sag (~ 4 hrs) bring it out in the sun and let it bake a bit. Tuesday am would be safe. It sort of depends if you warmed up the two parts before you mixed and how humid it is in the area you are in now. I tend to be on the conservative side. :)

I was using some Pacbay stuff a friend gave me and was in amazed how fast it cured and was dry to touch - not as flexible, but pretty decent stuff. Working time when it was warm was too short. <g> It felt like it could be fished that nite.

I'm never in a hurry to fish a rod when the epoxy is curing. Humidity plays a big role in it. Winter time is my prefered time to build rods - once it tacks up I bring it upstairs from the 50F cellar into main house and let it sit a day or two and it is golden.

I'm lucky I never had a major spill and busted guides. I hope your body faired better than your rod. 3 guides is a lot !!! I always hold the rod up when I fall. ;)
My reels have scars to show spills. I use my rod as a walking staff - gotta love that flocked cross hatched neoprene on the butt section. Way thicker than my own skin. :)

THANKS mD2020. now I have an issue. With the humidity last night I see that the epoxy dried but there is white haze inside the wraps near thwe guide feet. I suspect air bubbles. I heated the S&^t out of the epoxy to flow and release bubbles. I was wondering if the humidy was the culprit. Had the heat lamp on for 8 hrs w/ the rod spinning. I was pissed when I got up this morning to find it looked like it blushed. I will put it out in the sun during the day for a couple days to see if it needs to cure from the inside!!!!!!!!! If not I'm sure it won't effect the performance. I hope!

LOL - I saw some of that last nite as well while I was using my Aftcote, too !! My cellar is about 70% which is still pretty humid IMHO.

It should be fine strength wise. Cosmetically it may not look perfecto and I am not sure if the flaws will ever come out. :( We can compare notes in a month ! I build rods for function and strength - not into BLING at all. If it doesn't fall apart and it can with stand up as a walking staff then I am happy. :)

I heated it up as well, but no where near what I have seen some guys do. I try to go back after 30 mins or so and heat again if I see some bubbles. It takes me forever to do the epoxy finish on a rod. I need to watch mikecc do it and learn some tips!

sunlight has nothing to do w/ making the finish cure faster or slower. epoxy curing is a chemical reaction. although, the temperature at the time of application does help in making the epoxy flow better and setup slower or faster, but it really does not change the overall cure time. by putting it in the sun, you are actually adding unnecessary UV to the finish, which does actually dry out and flatten the appearance of rod finish epoxy. the cloudy color could be due to the excessive heat you put to the finish and added additional bubbles to the finish and possibly even overheated the finish. a week is usually a good amount of time to wait for a rod finish to cure, especially if you are using one heavy coat of finish. with aftcoat, you could even wait 2 weeks before using a rod.

Sounds like you may have put too much heat to it ....... did the same to one of mine it was hard enough but didn't look good. It worked ok but I still cut it off and started over later.

Dave I think your correct on the excessive heat. Usually I use 3-4 thin coats apply heat and all is well. Here I was trying to expedite the repair for Friday and decided to give it a fat coat. Torched up the wraps. It flowed nicely. Looked great when I went to bed but in the morning was I suprised. I left it in the sun today. It actually looks better today but not 100%. Thats what i get for compromising my judgement. never experienced this doing my own tried and true way. Lesson learned.

What are you folks using for heat source? I use to use alcohol lamp and found it too slow so I use one of those torches for sweating pipes and hold it back a ways.

I've seen guys use Flexcoat and heat it up so bad it dripped like crazy.

I have this other small torch that uses butane, but it never self-ignites consistantly. I tried a small butane lighter as well and it burned a spot on another rod.

Finish looks fine usually. Never gotten it to the point it was "flat".

I've heard of guys fishing a rod with Flexcoat on it the same day. Not sure if that was the smartest thing to do. Then again I've heard stories of guys fishing their rods with just tape holding down the guides!

You guys ever see a rod blow up and splinter from using heat on it? Sounds like many people here use heat to get things flowing. By a dehumidifier for the cellar so you dont get the haze, or wait until the humidity is much less. Emergency repairs though can't wait I'm sure. Using to much heat will weaken the blank quite a lot. I'd rather live with something that isn't that estetically pleasing but 100% in strgng as opposed to having a rod shatter at 3 a.m. in the same area that you were trying to get the expoxy to flow.

aftcoat is not the best choice if you want to put one heavy, thick coat one, like in a quick repair. it's too thin and tends to football w/ too much finish.

maddog - if you are not having any luck with flat rod finish, apply less finish at one time and do 2-4 thinner applications. you football finish from applying too much at once.

heating the finish to the point where it actually drips off while heating will cook the finish and is not the best in the long run. it could end up being a more brittle finish, crack easier, not to mention be full of tiny air bubbles.

What brand do you suggest SeaWolf? Aftcote does football if too heavy for sure.

I just want to put the finish on and have it dry quickly so I can use it. :) Ok, I am a little impatient at times.

I heard the stuff by Lamar in Tx was suppose to be real nice, but I haven't tried it.

Sometimes I have to go back and put on another coat here and there. Other times I just leave it along. I know that sound real bad.

thanks.

u40 high build is a good, heavier application epoxy. expect to apply many thinner coats w/ aftcoat.

Dave. How do you rate u40 in comparism to flexcoat? I'm looking for another option than flexcoat. Personally Afcote was great. my only concern was the softer hardness when fishing around rocks. Deeper scratches in finish than say flexcoat.

the standard u40 is thin, but not as thin as aftcoat. the high build u40 is a good heavy thread finish. u40 products have better UV protection than flex coat does. flex coat was nice, but many better epoxies available now. flex coat yellows, which i cant stand, nor would a customer after a couple seasons.

SeaWolf u build rods? I'm looking for a 20' one piece for casting 40oz in the surf, what can you do?

sbass - sure, take your hacksaw, go down to the osprey, cut the outrigger, tape on a reel and glue on a tip. enjoy.

There aren't any outriggers on the osprey anymore, any other suggestions?

I'm currently using a curtain rod but I find it's a little heavy, I just rewrapped it and got rid of the carbide guides and went with BNLG's to lighten it up a bit....