Epoxy manufacturer question

[IRGuy]

In the past I used MAS Epoxy pretty much exclusively, but I have heard some good things about Raka Epoxies. I used MAS rather than West Systems because it was non blushing and was slightly cheaper. Supposedly Raka is cheaper than MAS and can be used with their non-blush hardener.

What are you boat repair/builder guys using, and does anyone here have any experience with Raka?

[Bob H.]

West system with peel n ply...good bye blush...used almost 50 gallons on Resolute build. BH

[TailhookTom]

What Bob said.....Tailhook has more than 20 gallons of West System in her.

Tom

[Michael]

Got some epoxy and other fiberglassing supplies form Raka a few days ago. Seems fine to work with, but can't vouch for much else at this stage as just started to use it yesterday. So far i am ok with it and would buy again if needed

[JP Dalik]

I stopped using epoxy on this build because of the long dry times and issues with blush
The project is moving faster because we are using polyester resin and so far we are only building on original product. If I come across an area that has been repaired and I'm not sure what it is, I will switch to epoxy.
in hindsight I would have used more polyester in chimeras build when glassing to glass and saved the epoxy for wood laminates and dissimilar material lay ups.
We are at just 50 gallons of winter resin and counting

[Marlin]

I can't agree with JP on the use of polyester /vinyl ester resins for making repairs or alterations to old fiberglass. I once was an Egg Harbor and Pacemaker distributor and visited the factories frequently. When they laid up a hull or a house, it was all done in one setting, like a homogenous layup, let the chemistry create the bond to the cloth. New polyester resin attaching to old layup just doesn't work like epoxy, which is a glue for anything. Even with a thoroughly roughed up surface, you are relying on a mechanical attachment vs a chemical . Plus, what happens to the polyester layup put on top of a old polyester lay up in an area that flexes,polyester is extremely brittle, epoxy is more flexible. I'm not a chemist and that's probably where the real answer lies.

[Tony Meola]

Marlin

The glass guy that did the work on my boat, was an old Henriques Yacht glass man. He told me Jack Henriques taught him how to glass. He said that if you know what you are doing, you can go with polyester resin. I would say that we are all probably 10 years or more away from any of us finding out what holds up the best.

[Chum Bucket]

I used System Three no blush epoxy on the deck recore. It was about the same cost as West Systems and bought it where I purchased my Coosa board. Not sure if System Three is available nationwide. They make a couple variations, blush, no blush, 2:1, and 5:1 (like West). My deck recore project turned out excellent. I can't say it's any better than any other product, but I will use it again. I think any mainstream epoxy brand is going to give favorable results as long the PITA prep work is done properly.

[IRGuy]

From my readings over the years about vinyl ester/polyester versus epoxy I have standardized on epoxy for all the work I am doing on "Phoenix" for the following reasons...

Epoxy has "gap filling" properties making it useful when the substrate parts it is bonded to do not fit closely together.

Epoxy will bond well to cured epoxy and cured vinyl ester/polyester, (as well as almost every other material), while vinyl/poly won't bond well to either material...
ie: epoxy is a better "glue".

On the negative side, from my experience,..

Epoxy tends to shrink over time, while vinyl/poly shrinks less.

Epoxy is more expensive.

Some epoxy catalysts create "amine blush" which can interfere with bonding with subsequent layers of epoxy unless the surface is properly washed.