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For those builders experienced and intrepid enough to glass the whole banana in one marathon session, I suggest the following method to avoid the problem of not moving fast enough to avoid curing epoxy. (because unless you are superman you will be up against this problem). This is not mentioned in the hymnal but did work well for me while I glassed solely with a yellow squeegee (no roller, I have an aversion to them but that’s just me): Pick a side and wet out the glass on panel #1 starting in the center (roof) and working towards both ends. Next start on that side’s panel #2 in the center and work up to and remove the push pins thus wetting the area of three layer cloth overlap. Near the ends, particularly in the front, I suggest temporarily folding back the side glass cloth and wetting just the two roof layers, stroking down toward the corner with your squeegee (the corner you tugged on while smoothing the cloth). Once those layers are wet out all the way to their edges, fold thenside glass back where it belongs and wet it out as the third overlapping layer.
Now here is the trick to avoiding premature curing, and I suggest you do this every third 3 oz batch of epoxy: now wet out a 2-3″ strip on the OTHER side panel #1 front to back and joining/continuing the already wet out panel # 1. Do another 2″ of second panel #1 wet out every third batch of epoxy as you work your way down the first side panels 3 & 4. This has a huge psychological side benefit: by the time you’ve finished the first side, you are about done with the huge second side panel #1. thus more than half done; over the hump so to speak (pardon the pun intended). Hope this helps somebody as it did me. Of course I did not invent this strategy. Its a painters trick.
The yellow plastic squeegee is sold in autoparts supply stores for spreading Bondo. They plastic,flexible, about 4″x3″. Cured epoxy can be removed from them by flexing them and shaving it off with a utility knife blade. You can make all sorts of fillet tools out of them; far better than sticks and infinitely reusable (lie for 25 years of boatbuilding. I am still using the same batch of squeegees I purchased in 1990. Even devotees of foam rollers and boatbuilding will admit that squeegees, bar none, are the single best way to wet out glass on surfaces. I assure you they are the best way also to wet out glass tape on a plastic covered table prior to unrolling the tape in place on the boat (or teardrop. Applying downward pressure while moving the squeegee is THE way to get the air out of the fiberglass. Stippling motions with a chip brush are childsplay in comparison. What roller devotees like about rollers is that they spread out the epoxy quickly in a smooth thin even coat. However they entrain air and are far from ideal in wetting out dry cloth on dry wood. If you use then you must still get the air out- using a squeegee aggressively; simply tipping with a foam brush just doesn’t cut it/isn’t aggressive enough/ leaves glass floating on epoxy. I have no trouble spreading epoxy out evenly, thinly, and quickly with squeegees. At first its like plowing snow in a parking lot, then its a wiping motion with downward pressure, then its a scrubbing action with more downward pressure until you get a uniform translucent textured glass surface with no epoxy pools on the surface. Look at the surface at an angle to see those shiny reflecting pools and go back and squegee them with downward pressure towards the still unwet glass. The one function where rollers excel is applying thin final epoxy coats to already cured wet out vertical or overhead surfaces – but at great expense in wasted epoxy and expensive nonreusable rollers. And if it is a lengthy job the stuff starts to cure n the roller and in the pan. Ultimately the for peels of the cardboard roller and or leaves “tracks” in your job where the for seams were in the roller. The tampon style rollers available at Lowest are a partial answer to this issue. All that said, I have refined my squeegee skills to do even these jobs, even overhead!
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