Fiberglass Repair product suggestions

[Tony D. Woodpussy]

I'm repairing my newly acquired 12' Skiimmar sloop and today purchased a quart of 105 resin and a quart of 205 hardener from West Marine. It cost me almost $90.00 for the two items.:cry: Does anyone know of less costly products to use? Do any of the automotive products work above and or below decks? Prices at West Marine are getting crazy!

Also, if you have a Harbor Freight store near you, be sure to visit. I was in a new one near me last night and found prices on most items a great deal less than for similar products at Home Depot and Sears, especially for tools. They provide a lifetime guarantee on their small tools, too. Most of their stuff appears to be made in China but the goods appear to be of decent quality.
Regards,
Andre

 

[Merlin Clark]

Yeah the prices are crazy on this stuff but it is a petroleum product.
The West System epoxy doesn't mix 50:50, it mixes 5:1 with the epoxy being 5 parts to the 1 part of hardener. The pumps meter the product so the ratios are right with one pump of each, 2 pumps each, and so on.
The quart size hardener goes with the gallon size resin, so if you don't need much, I'd return the (unopened) quart size and get the small one (I think 1/2 pint?) but the gallon resin/quart hardener is the most economical if you need that much.
Other people have had good luck with epoxies sold online, like System 3. I think it's less$$.
I don't know about automotive epoxies, all I've seen is polyester and that's only because that's what is carried at the hardware stores near me. Doesn't mean they don't exist.
The price might for auto epoxy not be any better, when I needed a bronze color paint for my accent and boot stripes I went to a auto paint supplier and they mixed my up the right color which I thought would be cheap but it was over $40 for a pint! Yeow!
It did go on nice and flowed very well.
Cool boat.

 

[SchwarckT]

I've made topside repairs with "Bondo" products and had very good results. You could also try www.epoxy5050com.

 

[Tony D. Woodpussy]

Thanks, I'm aware that the mix is 5:1 resin to hardener. I still had resin in my gallon container so I added the resin to the gallon container. I was nearly out of resin so over time perhaps these two products will even out proportionately .
Speaking of price.....Marine Tex is a "KILLER".
Repairs to the SKIMMAR are proceeding well due to the great weather we've had lately. I repaired the deck, prepared the inside of the hull for paint and straightened the rub rail so I can re-attach it later. I'll take more photos as we move forward.
Andre (Tony)

Yeah the prices are crazy on this stuff but it is a petroleum product.
The West System epoxy doesn't mix 50:50, it mixes 5:1 with the epoxy being 5 parts to the 1 part of hardener. The pumps meter the product so the ratios are right with one pump of each, 2 pumps each, and so on.
The quart size hardener goes with the gallon size resin, so if you don't need much, I'd return the (unopened) quart size and get the small one (I think 1/2 pint?) but the gallon resin/quart hardener is the most economical if you need that much.
Other people have had good luck with epoxies sold online, like System 3. I think it's less$$.
I don't know about automotive epoxies, all I've seen is polyester and that's only because that's what is carried at the hardware stores near me. Doesn't mean they don't exist.
The price might for auto epoxy not be any better, when I needed a bronze color paint for my accent and boot stripes I went to a auto paint supplier and they mixed my up the right color which I thought would be cheap but it was over $40 for a pint! Yeow!
It did go on nice and flowed very well.
Cool boat.

 

[Merlin Clark]

Oh yeah, Marine tex is handy but stupidly expensive.
Sounds like good progress Tony.
I look forward to seeing pics when she's done and underway!

 

[tedsbeds]

If you are comfortable mixing your resins proportionaly try US Composites (http://www.uscomposites.com/ ) They sell their owen brand of resins, polyester, vinylested, epoxy and gelcoat. Polyester and vinylester are less expensive than epoxy and at times work as well.