Problems painting over epoxy

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I recently added several coats of west system epoxy to my rudder. The epoxy seemedto dry fine but no paint will adhere to it? I've tried marine epoxy paint and evenexterior house paint but paint remains tacky. What did I do wrong? thanks

 

[Sean]

Epoxy

Jeeesss! I had this same problem on the interior of my boat two years ago. I painted white Easypoxy over some fiberglass work that I was doing, and it is still sticky. I had done the same process before with excellent results. Go figure. Now, I need to figure out how to get the paint off and go a different direction. Maybe we can get some answers on this thread. Sean

 

[Steve Dion]

Up s--t creek, without a paddle?

You may want to check out West System's web site. They have a Problem Solving area that addresses your problems.www.westsystem.com

 

[Timm Donley]

paint over epoxy

The epoxy has an "amine blush" on the surface that is likley inhibiting a cure of the paint. I believe the approch I have come to understand is to rinse the area with vinegar followed by soap and water wash . The west epoxy manual should address this issue. Good luck,Tim

 

[Paul]

I agree...

...When the epoxy kicks, it would usually leaves a waxy coating on the surface. From what I remember on past jobs it could be eaily seen there is was alot of epoxy curing or not even noticable. The instructions I believe were to always wash this off if you were applying another coat after the a certain setting time...ie, many hours.It has been a few years, but read instructions and pay attention to any waxy coating on the set expoxy. It needs to be taken off.Good luck,Paul

 

[Mark S]

Did my rudder also...

You need to rough sand the west system, then clean the area with acetone to remove residue.

 

[Peter]

Wash first, THEN sand

The waxy amine blush forms on the surface of cured epoxy after a few hours. Paint (and the next coat of epoxy) won't adhere well to it. If you apply a second coat shortly after the first one sets, the blush doesn't have time to form and you shouldn't have to wash.When I was barrier coating my hull last year, I washed each coat of epoxy used dishwashing soap and water, followed by a wipedown with acetone before sanding to remove surface imperfections and provide "tooth" for the next coat.If you sand before you wash, all you're doing is grinding the waxy blush into the clean epoxy underneath, which makes it even harder to remove. Good luck.PeterH23 "Raven"