Originally Posted by bigeasy1
All i can say,is I'm completely satisfied with my restoration that was done entirely with marine ply,and ployester resin,(except for the glue up for the plywood faces).I'm fully expecting this resto to last well beyond the time I'm six feet under.
I paid very close attention to detail when I did the glass work,and I'm not the least bit worried that I will have any kind of failure with the glass or resin.
I have a close friend in the glass and resin business,who sells to several members on this site,so I could have got a good deal on any resin,be it epoxy,polyester,vinylester,dion,etc,but Honestly I didn't see the need to spend more than what's necessary.
There are thousands upon thousands of boats, from commercial lobster boats,to yachts and recreational boats layed up with polyester resin that are still functioning,and structurally strong years and years after they were built.
Rarely is it the resin system that fails,it's usually because of sloppy workmanship,or careless maintenance that causes issues.Wrapping a piece of wood of any kind with epoxy resin and cloth won't help a bit if you do a sloppy job.The wood's still going to rot if water gets to it.
I don't think that there are loads of boats on the water that rotted because of water absorbtion from the hull bottom up.No offense to anyone,but I think that although poly resins can absorb some moisture,it's blown way way out of proportion.
No doubt that epoxy resin is more waterproof,and is stronger with a better and stronger secondary bond,and is more flexible.There are other advantages as well,it has no odor,so it's nice for repairs in closed spaces,it allows for more layup time with the different hardeners.It is a stronger resin system.
I'm just not sure it's all that necessary,for general resto work,it's much more expensive.It won't dissolve the binders in mat so it cant wet it out properly.It will although wet out 1708 stitch mat as there are no binders in it.
Either way most high quality resins,(not boatyard resin),applied properly will do a good job.
I just don't think you need to be worried about polyester resin being a bad choice,because it really isn't.It's been used succesfully in loads of rebuilds.
You have to weigh out what works better for you.Epoxy is stronger but generally much more expensive.Vinylester is more water resistant than polyester, but in my opinion is to close to the price of epoxy,so I guess if money isn't an issue than go with epoxy,but absolutely don't be afraid of using polyester.They all will do a good job.
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