Tag Archives: Six10

Fast Blister Repair with Six10

By Tom Pawlak — GBI Technical Advisor

This fast blister repair method is tailored to fixing individual gel coat blisters prior to bottom painting. The advantage of this method is it can repair blisters on hulls recently pulled from the water or hulls that have been out for some time.

Fast Blister Repair Method

  1. Open the Blisters

    Open blisters with a small abrasive tool like 3M’s Rolock™.  2″ diameter sanding disk with 60-grit sandpaper. Make sure you have removed the entire blister, including the edges of the blister dome.open the blisters

  2. Clean the Cavity

    Wipe the cavity clean with an alcohol prep pad or paper towels that have been soaked in isopropyl alcohol. Be generous with the alcohol and change towels frequently so the contaminants are removed rather than spread. Repeat the alcohol wipe process and allow the laminate to dry to the touch. It is particularly important to repeat the alcohol wipe on blisters that were fluid-filled at the time they were ground away.Wipe the blister cavity clean with an alcohol prep pad.

  3. Fill with Six10

    Fill the cavities with Six10 Thickened Epoxy Adhesive dispensed through the static mixing wand.Fill the cavity with Six10

  4. Spread the Six10

    Spread the Six10 Adhesive flush with the surrounding hull with a wide putty knife or plastic spreader. Avoid overfilling the cavities because Six10 is difficult to sand.Spread the Six10 Adhesive flush with the surrounding hull with a wide putty knife or plastic spreader. 

  5. Wet Sand

    Wet sand with 80–120-grit wet/dry sandpaper or wash with water (no soap, no ammonia) and sand dull with 100-grit sandpaper. If you are using Six10 in warm conditions, you should be able to wet sand and bottom paint later the same day. If working in cooler temperatures, allow the epoxy to cure overnight before sanding. wet sand the blister repair area

  6. Paint

    The final step is applying your choice of bottom paint to complete this fast blister repair job.Alkyd finish topcoat

Why this Fast Blister Repair Method Works

Six10 Adhesive is epoxy thickened with fumed silica, which allows the epoxy to remain an excellent moisture barrier. When the static mixer is used to dispense it the blister cavity&nbspis filled with air-free epoxy. This is important because small bubbles in coatings and putties degrade moisture barrier potential by creating shortcuts for moisture to permeate the hull. In the end, Six10 produces a moisture barrier that is better than the original gelcoat.

In our Gelcoat Blister manual, we recommend filling and fairing extensively blistered hulls with WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy thickened with one of our low-density fillers (407 Low Density or 410 Microlight®). The hollow microscopic spheres used to make low-density fillers easy to sand, make them poor moisture barriers. So, the blister manual requires that an effective epoxy barrier coat be applied over the filled and faired surface.

Six10 Adhesive is an excellent option for filling ground-out blister cavities—especially if you don’t plan to barrier coat your hull.

More Good Reasons for Using Six10

Six10 is simple to use. No stirring is required when the epoxy is dispensed through the static mixer. The Six10 cartridge fits any standard caulking gun and always dispenses epoxy at the perfect mix ratio. Six10 makes filling blisters easy and efficient. This is comforting to know whether you’re doing the job yourself or paying someone else to do it.

Six10 Epoxy Adhesive

Introducing Six10 Thickened Epoxy Adhesive

Above: Introducing Six10 Thickened Epoxy Adhesive, a two-part adhesive in a convenient, self-metering cartridge for permanent, waterproof structural gap filling and gluing.

Six10® Adhesive gives you the strength and reliability of a two-part WEST SYSTEM epoxy with the convenience of a single-part product. Six10 is dispensed with a standard caulking gun. Non-sagging Six10 bonds tenaciously to wood, metals, fiberglass, and concrete. Continue reading

Six10 Epoxy Adhesive

Understanding Six10 Epoxy Adhesive Properties

By Jeff Wright — Vice President of Technical Services

WEST SYSTEM® Six10 is a two-part, pre-thickened epoxy adhesive formulated with properties that make it perfect for many adhesive applications. Compared to other ready-to-dispense adhesives, its particular physical properties make it ideal for stitch and glue boat construction, fiberglass laminate repair and general bonding. This new formulation has a good balance between the elongation and toughness of G/flex® and the strength and stiffness of our 105 Resin-based epoxies. You can use it with as many materials as possible including wood, metals and composites. The long working time with fast thru-cure and unique shear thinning are additional characteristics formulated into Six10 that contribute to its ease of use. Continue reading

Six10 Thickened Epoxy Adhesive

Practical Tips for Using Six10

by Captain James R. Watson

The WEST SYSTEM® Six10 epoxy cartridge is comprised of the cartridge body, removable nose plug, and a threaded retaining nut. A 600 static mixer is included with the cartridge. (It’s called a static mixer because it has no moving parts.) The cartridge fits into any standard caulk gun—manual, cordless, or pneumatic—and allows simultaneous dispensing and mixing of the two-part epoxy.

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