Sunday 12 October 2008

Gelcoat Repairs - 2

I had to admit defeat today.... with the current temperatures the gelcoat I mixed up was under-catalysed. So much in fact that most of the repairs just wiped out with acetone. So this time I mixed up another batch and added an extra drop of catalyst:

I also used a small halogen heater - moving it around between the various areas - to try and bring the temperature of the repairs up to around 20 degrees C.
After about an hour the left over gelcoat was beginning to harden and after 4 hours was getting pretty solid with only a slight tackiness due to the exposure to air. I'm pretty sure this time it will be OK.

Looking around for other jobs to do I fitted the battery leads in the battery compartment and added some additional power connections:
The smaller red and black wires coming from the studs are the direct supply to the Mallory 6AL Ignition Box.
The smaller red and black wires coming from the battery terminal clamps connect to a socket which will be place somewhere under the dash / passenger footwell and will allow a battery conditioner to be easily connected - as opposed to having to get into the battery compartment. The thick brown wire is the ignition feed and also fits to the battery terminal clamp.
We'll see how the gelcoat repairs turn out tomorrow.

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