I am forced to make some repairs to the floor in my boat where the T-top connects to the floor. I have the area prepared as far as removal of old core. I went to West Marine yesterday to get resin, all they had on the shelf was “boaters resin”, I asked the guy if the resin was a finish resin or a layup resin…deer in the headlight look. So I asked if the resin had wax in it or not…“None of our resins have wax in them”
The container doesn’t state either, but according to the information on their website I have a quart of “finish resin”.
If “recoat” time is 30 minutes ( according to the website ) is it ok to use this resin as a “layup” if I do one coat at a time and sand off the top after 30+ minutes or after it is hard enough to sand?
Can I cheat and get two laters if the resin is flowing good?
Would rather had actual layup resin but “it is what it is”
I need to have the boat ready for the water Wednesday night for the fireworks or my wife will be Pissed Off.
I personally would absolutely NOT use finish resin for what you are doing.
With the heat and humidity variations and doing what you’re doing in what is likely an uncontrolled environment, you are never going to be able to time everything exactly right. You cannot take the wax out of the resin, and the wax’s purpose is to make the resin tack-free when cured. You cannot get a 2nd layer of layup to adhere unless you add it while “wet” or you allow full cure then sand and CLEAN the initial coat. If you try to cheat with multiple layers, you’ll get excessive heat as well as expansion/contraction in the bottom layers, and you will end up with a brittle, cracked up, or uncured mess. You can’t break the basic rules of working with this stuff.
Either way you slice this thing, you are not going to get a good primary bond, i.e. molecular bond, by trying to add layers to finish resin. You are going to have a secondary, adhesive, bond only, and that adhesion is going to be pretty weak due to the very nature of what the wax is meant to due in the resin. The strength difference we’re talking about here are like 400%+ better when you get primary and secondary going on vs only secondary. You can get the primary and secondary bonding when you layup over glass that’s not yet fully cured, but still tacky, and is NOT waxed. Waxed glass/resin is meant NOT to stay tacky!
Finish resin is absolutely not for layup. If it was for a project where strength wasn’t so important, then maybe I’d say get by with it since “it is what it is.” This area you’re talking about has already proven to be a weak area, and it is normally a problem-prone area in center consoles anyway.
Finish resin is only for the last coat before you are going to only sand it and coat it with paint, epoxy, etc. as a sealer and protective coat. Builders who use molds may use the stuff for the very last coat in a layup just to seal the glass off a little more and take away any tack.
You can try to cheat by using peel ply, but I don’t have any experience try
quote:
I personally would absolutely NOT use finish resin for what you are doing.
Thanks,
That was what I was afraid of. I intentionaly stayed away from Lowe’s and Auto Zone because I wanted a better quality resin mainly suited for marine enviorment.
I’ll look for the right resin this afternoon.
If I get to the Kayak build that I have been dreaming about maybe I can use this resin for the top coat.
Thanks again!!!
I wouldn’t use any of the polyester resins for a structural repair, use a marine epoxy resin only, such as West System or System Three. It is much stronger than any polyester, and you can be sure it won’t have wax in it.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Agreed, get some laminating resin with NO wax in it, only other way is to use a peel ply as stated, which isn’t too tough to do, just can be messy. I ended up doing a lot of peel ply when making my whaler even with laminating resin, probabbly wasn;t necessary but went ahead and dit it.
Russ B.
www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
MAS epoxy is available at Royall hardware in Mt. Pleasant. It’s the only resin we used when I used to build boats.
MAS is good epoxy too.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
I’ll look for the epoxy resin local today.
Several pretty good hardware stores around, maybe someone will have it.
Wasn’t sure about adhesion between the existing structure and new repair by using epoxy.
Thanks everyone
After recently doing business with them I reccomend Merton’s. I ordered gellcoat and pourable foam on Tuesday and it was at my doorstep Friday. Prices were way cheaper than anywhere around here and their customer service was fantastic. The guy that helped me spoke with me for 20 minutes to ensure that I had exactly what I needed. Just look up Merton’s on line.
[quote]Originally posted by RDW
I’ll look for the epoxy resin local today.
Several pretty good hardware stores around, maybe someone will have it.
Wasn’t sure about adhesion between the existing structure and new repair by using epoxy.
Thanks everyone
Epoxy will bond well to properly prepped polyester resins, but polyester resins will NOT bond well to epoxy.
Thanks to everyone for the advice.
I went with the West Systems Epoxy and the results are very good for an amateur.