Great epoxy link

[brian]

Good info on epoxy choices and study of epoxy and the sun.

http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Epoxresl.htm

[Tomtall]

Epoxy info

Good stuff Brian. Thanks for sharing.

[Dave M]

Raka

Has anyone tried that Raka epoxy ?

[modhydro]

Epoxy opinion

Dave,

I had tried it about 10 years ago. I found it to be exactly the opposite of everything in that guys comparisions. It blushed like I've never seen, was VERY mix sensitive, was prone to heavy orange peel and was in my opinion, very poor product. I spent lots of time on the phone with the seller and was never really satisfied with it.

Before I got my current job, I was going to write an article on epoxies and talked with representatives from several major brands. The general consensus of West, Systems 3 and MAS was that they all have the capabilities to mix in the extra "secret" ingredients that lend a product to a forgiving, user friendly mix where the low volume brands simply didn't have that luxury. Maybe things are different now. When you look at the overall cost of a new boat, the epoxy is relatively low and when you look at the percentage difference between the brands the savings is pretty **** small. I will only drive and sell something that is built with the West epoxy, but that again is just an opinion. I've never tried Systems 3 or MAS and they may be just as good, but if I've got a system that is working well why should I switch to save $20 a boat? I'll stick with the product that is working well for me until someone can show me differently. I tried it 10 years ago and it was a pain.

Steve Roskowski

[Bill Huson]

and there's always . . .

polyester resins. Very cheap compared to epoxy. Polyester is the resin of choice used to laminate pleasure boat hulls, and witha surface hardner added it is good for overall finish work, sands well, and lives longer in the sunlight.

If surface hardner can't be found, one can make it by warming acetone up and dissolving parafin in it, then add the homemade surface hardner to the resin, abou 5%-10% by volume will do the trick. SAFETY HINT: Use a light bulb or electric heater to warm the acetone up, NOT an open gas flame. That could be very exciting!

[hydroplay]

While the link does have some interesting information, it is more aimed at laminating fiberglass to plywood and maintaining a good finish. I don't think there is much fiberglass used in race hydros at this point although inboard hydros heve commonly used a layer of glass on the decks. I guess I never understood why. Tunnel boat guys walk on the decks as much as inboard guys do so it didn.t seem to make sense, especially since the glass would be mostly in compression from these deck loads. He seemed to like slower epoxies as the most common boat building WEST 105/205 mixture was never mentioned, only the slower types.

Its like reading a Consumers Report report and then just take the variables important to you and you may get a different result for your needs. The EAST stuff looks intriguing.

[C Stock Racer]

I have used Raka epoxy on 3 C runabouts with very good results. Maybe they have changed their formula to correct any problems. The cost was $43.00 a gallon shipped. I have also tried System 3 ,Tap plastics ( west coast supplier ) and Us composites. All may have some differences but they all worked good for glueing, layup, and sealing a wood boat. I'm not knocking west system, I have never used it but If you get the same result at a lesser cost why not use it. George Scott