[fireflyinva]

A little update on this project...it appears to be a real epic one, but it looks like it's worth it.

After waiting another week, most of the epoxy hardened and I got sick of waiting. So, I inquired to my local boat store and they suggested take the remaining sticky stuff off with acetone. That's nail polish remover to most of us!

So, removed it, and found the remaining dry parts sufficient for the patchwork I intended. So, then I started the onerous task of sanding the surfaces smooth. The places where I put in the fibercloth, it was fairly rough. Hand sanding just got me tired, so after two hours, I pulled out the palm sander and started away at it.

With the hand sander, I found the work easy--I mostly used fine grade sandpaper. A tiny detail sander might be even better, but the palm sized one worked fine for me. BTW--be sure to wear a respirator and safety glasses--the epoxy can be bad if breathed in. A few little pits were left over, which I filled with a marine fiberglass repair paste (I'll get back with that later).

So, after that was done, I went away, got back to business this weekend. I started with a product "Tough as Tile," following the brush on application instructions. In theory, it should have worked. I still think it's a good product, but not in any way a miracle fix.

If you recall, my tub was crazed with an all-over crackling (crazing) of the finish, so that it looked like a finely cracked hard boiled egg. I used the "Tough as tile" product as instructed, but the cracks were not filled in with the product. Instead, the cracks came through the new finish. I'll try to photograph this, but I'm not sure it will show, since everything is blindingly white now. The result was that kind of crackle finish that faux painters seek--but not exactly desireable in a bathtub.

When I put down the first coat, I was a bit concerned, so I went back to my hardware store and the "guru" told me to calm down and continue to follow the directions for the second coat (and that it would take care of the problem). This fellow swore he'd used the product many times on cracked surfaces and that it worked fine. He was wrong (or may have been inhaling too many of the product fumes). I kind of had suspicions bout the problem at this point--the places where I patched the surface--came out smooth.

When I proceeded to the next coat and the crack lines started seeping out, I called the manufacturer, who claimed that it wasn't intended to fill in cracks, that this was to be expected, and gave me instruction for fixing it.

I'll have to wait at least five days for a full cure (this is also an epoxy product), then I'll have to sand it down and put on a new layer of marine epoxy. When that is cured, I can reapply a single layer of the "Tough as Tile" product.

I'm not so terribly disapointed as it might seem. The problem appears manageable and all of this application and sanding is making the surface better with each iteration. There are still some uneven chips here and there, so they will probably smooth out by the end. This will lead to a better looking and stronger surface. I just hope the warm weather sees me out on this process (though I should be fine so long as labor day weekend is warm).

Overall, I'm really enjoying this project. It's not intimidating at all, since it seems that everything is fixable with the tub, so long as you want to put the time into it.

Mary