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[Tug Fanatic]

I understand that laminating polyester resin does not work well as a gel coat as it does not contain the wax necessary for it to fully harden. I have also never heard of anyone making a full laminate out of gel coat.

In car repair kits you get one type of resin which presumably fully cures.

Is it gel coat or something else?

[Baldrick]

  It will be Isopon "fastglas" or very similar. You can use it with fibreglass mat or as a gel coat which I did inside my hull but you only get about 10mins before it starts to set.  Does flatten out quite well .

[nemesis]

Gel coat remains sticky for a while, it is like that for the laminating resin to etch into it so to get a good chemical bond. It also pays to give the laminating resin a very good shake , up end it as well. That will disperse the wax,if any, into the resin. The wax is in there to give a smooth surface on the back of the moulding, which is the reason you should always abrade the surface to eliminate it if adding another layer. nemesis

[Subculture]

Polyester gelcoat resin is air inhibited, which is why it remains tacky when exposed to the air. You can add wax to it in order to use it a top coat resin. The wax floats to the top of the resin as it cures sealing off the resin from the air and preventing it from remaining tacky. Some resin is sold with the wax already added, it's generally labelled as topcoat resin.

Gelcoat resin is also thickened with a thixotropic additive so it doesn't run off and pool up. Lay-up resin is designed to be used with glass reinforcment, so is kept thin so it infuses well with the glassfibre. Fast glass is just lay-up resin.

[Tug Fanatic]

Thank you.
That explains a lot.