Looking at this product : http://www.rotdoctor.com/products/cpes.htmlObviously, it ain't fish safe and the Msds on it reads "yikes" because the solvents that make it work are toxic.However.... As I get ready to build several breeder racks using a ply/glass combination it seems to me that this would be an ideal thing to use as a base coat. It displaces water, sap etcetera and soaks deep into wood. Using it on plywood I'd expect it would pretty well seep all the way through it if you coated both sides and really soaked the edges with it. After curing I'd expect the wood to be substantially stiffer and stronger as well as being completely impervious to water.We all know the rule about how fish safe requires a product that is approved for potable water. I'm wondering if we have any paint experts out there who could comment as to whether there would be any danger of the toxins in this stuff leaching through one of those non- toxic epoxies like sweet water or pond armor. My current thought would be to do a heavy coat of the CPES to thoroughly waterproof the tank, let it cure for a week or so to get those solvents plenty of time to evaporate and then paint the inside with the fish-safe epoxy ...I'm leaning toward the blue sweetwater product since it is ecomical and aesthetically pleasing for what I want to do. I don't think you'd even need to sand the base coat since the top coat of epoxy should chemically bond to the base coat.Any concerns or thoughts as far as whether this makes sense?
CPES - clear penetrating epoxy sealer as base coat?
- Thread starter CHFIII
- Start date
Sent an email to the company asking the two basic questions: would the safe epoxies we use chemically bond to a CPES primer and would the volatile chemicals that make it possible to get that kind of penetration leach through the fish safe topcoats we use.The second question is the deal breaker but the first is interesting too. From a lot of the build threads I have gathered that sanding the wood to get a good bond is a huge amount of work, this stuff would make that step go away since it penetrates so well. Now if it has to be sanded before applying the topcoat then that's no change from what we are used to but if other epoxies would bond to this chemically? How sweet would it be to eliminate both sanding steps while making the plywood stiffer, stronger and totally impervious to water? If it can do that then rotdoctor will have a lot if new fans around here. Worst case I will likely use it on stands and such.