epoxy material ?
 

I will be doing some winter epoxy work and have limited experience with epoxy ( I've always used polyester resin ) and any epoxy I've used has been the West System - although never used with fiberglass - always used thickened, to repair a crack etc.

Is there a better, less expensive epoxy and where can I purchase it ? Or, should I stick with West ? I will probably not need more than a few quarts to a gallon.

Thx

http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html

West System is good epoxy. But you pay for it. If you go with generic, you will save but also expect more blushing and longer cure times.

If you use peel ply you don't get blushing. Also if it is extremely low humidity there is little/no blush. Blushing is caused by a reaction with the water in air.

US Composites and Raka both seem pretty good. West is good but costs a bit more. Kinda depends on how much you need vs. price and convenience.

I've used the US Composites epoxy. the slow cure stuff does not blush, even in Florida humidity. I was happy with everything they sent me, price seemed very good.

Abl,
Mertons fiberglass supply sells System three epoxy,and stocks their general purpose,and silver tip resins.High quality stuff,(2-1 mix)very fast shipping,good pricing and a very knowledgeable guy.
It's a one day shipping point to you.

www.mertons.com

I second this^^

Thx guys. I look into all the options.

I will be working on strengthening my gunnels with either knees or gussets ( still don't know which is which ). There was very little info on the site or online in general about this topic. When I get to this, I'll start by glassing in core material under the gunnels about 2' past where each of my hardtop mount points are - then, based on how that feels, will add the extra support if needed.

If I do add gussets/knees, it would be ideal to glass to the hull, but the liner is there. And, I do not want to create a pressure point anywhere.

I have some time to figure it out, but there is a spot that I want to epoxy/glass now and that is the liner to topside seam near the foot pedestals at the helm and passenger areas. I've posted about this area and gotten varied responses. I think making it 'one' in that joint can't hurt.

I did a rebuild of an 18 Steiger with the US stuff a few years back. Used a lot of their product. Was generally happy and most of the times I wasn't it was due to my own lack of experience.
One big learning curve-especially when it is chilly-is going to be wetting stuff properly. Coming from poly it will take some getting used to.
Also, not sure if you are planning on making a filler for the joint or using some kind of fabric, but you definitely will want to experiment with thickness when you are making fillers for vertical joints so you don't experience too much sag.
If I only needed a gallon I would probably blow off all the shipping and waiting and just use west.

Epoxy will not wet out mat properly and more likely not at all. Mat has a binder in it to hold the strands together while its in its raw state.
The polyester and vinylester resins work good with mat, as the styrene in them dissolves the binder.Epoxy will not wet out the mat because it can, t dissolve the binder.
It will however work with a stitch mat like 1708 as there is no binder in it as the mat is held to the fabric with a thread.

US Composites sells "epoxy mat".....NO Binder :)

The epoxy you might be looking for is called vinylester. Or more properly, epoxy vinylester . It works like poly and wets out mat. And has a nice low viscosity. And has mechanical properties better than West system epoxy.

Merton's sells it. Data sheet is attached.

I've used aero marine epoxy from cali good stuff and inexpensive. Used it for a teak sole and 3/4" covering boards held up very well especially when gluing oily teak...

Hermit,I almost forgot about that, thanks.
Yes,they do.I just don't care for it.It's thick and puffy like a blanket.I like a stitch-mat like 1708 as I find it to be much easier to use when dealing with bends and curves when wetting it out,it just drapes and conforms so nice,and is very user friendly.
It is also stronger.in structural applications.than mat.
To each his own though,everyone has their favorites,done properly,they all do a very good job.

Me too

FYI

Vinyl ester is not epoxy. Poly type product right?!

We sell a lot of epoxies (mostly our house brand), and also biax with mat that is stitched. I rebuilt my seacraft with these materials. Our prices are very competitive. ;)

our Marinepoxy....

http://boatbuildercentral.com/products.php?cat=41

Thx again. A quick question - do you think I need to use core material ( balsa ) and then 1708 or will the 1708 give enough rigidity under the gunnels ?