epoxy or polyester?

[dave law]

Im ready to start glueing together my transome and want to know the best method. Ive read using epoxy? How is polyester for faring,tabbing, and sheathing the transome and deck? Looking for the best way to hold up in rough seas. I have ordered my bracket and have a new 300 e tec ready to go. any advise will be great.

[Bushwacker]

I would only use epoxy on a transom because of it's much higher bond strength, plus it's more waterproof than polyester. Once you start with epoxy, you have to stay with it for fairing, etc. You can put epoxy over polyester, but polyester does not bond well to epoxy. Some epoxy resins develop an amine blush on the surface when cured, so you have to wash that off before applying any more resin, or add additional layers while it's still tacky so you get a chemical bond. Check out the West Systems website for a bunch more info on epoxy and glass work.

[shine]

epoxy is far superior in any structural measure. The most important thing in rebuild is secondary bonding. Epoxy bonds to polyester better than polyester bonds to polyester !


On a boat like that, the difference in cost in rebuilding using epoxy over poly is probably less than 1% of the value of the boat.

most new epoxies do not have blush, or so little that its never an issue. Its simple to work with, and does not smell. The only health issue with epoxy is that you want to keep it off your skin, some people can develop an allergy to it, but the vast majority never have an issue

[cdavisdb]

If you decide to go with epoxy, be sure to check out US Composites. I used their stuff and was very satisfied with service, quality and especially low price.