What epoxy do you use?

[Winston Dryden]

Is anyone using the Marinpoxy from the supplier in Florida ( looks like duckworks sells it too)? It's cheaper but is it any good?

[clif high]

all epoxy basically comes from one of nine plants in china. So the difference is in the hardener. I have used raka from FL for years with good results, and now  also use system 3. I prefer the 2 to one as it eliminates cleaning pumps.

 

clif

 

[Winston Dryden]

Chuck, I hope your not associated with that site nor offended by the following but that links is to one of the worst laid out web sits I’ve seen in years. Again please take no offence it’s just very hard to follow. I gave up on trying to glean any prices from it.

 

Cliff, I here nothing but good things about Raka and they are certainly high on everyone’s list and it looks like about the same price as the Marinepoxy.

 

Anyway I guess it’s OK to post links so here’s the epoxy in question for me. Marinepoxy at Boat Builder Central It runs around $55/gallon in kits depending on how much you order.

[Jeff Kittle]

We built almost our entire boat using Progressive Epoxy. Yes, the web site is awful. I learned to just click  here;  http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=epoxy takes you directly to the ordering page .But perhaps simpler to just call Paul, the owner.  I am sold on their product and especially their service. I wish he would clean up the site because he could have a lot of sales - i think people just give up. 

 

Paul is closed on Fridays, but it was on that very day a few years ago that our Tiki 46 hit an underwater object and needed a quick repair. When Jeff called the office, Paul answered even though he was closed because he "recognized our number on his caller id." He then sent out the underwater epoxy express mail and we were set to go.  That kind of service is hard to find nowadays.

 

it's also a nice 2:1 ratio and he carries all the other fillers that a person might need.

 

Sue

[clif high]

as an aside, costco has two kinds of small cups. One is red plastic with a design that is uncannily like a take off of the wharram logo....and then these tall 'hot' cups of some form of plasticized paper. Anyway, the red ones are perfect for measuring batches as the  design shows through on the inside and makes a great measuring aid. The larger ones are perfect for mixing (smallish) batches as they are easily held and provide 15 oz or so (will have to look at actual specs on cup sack)...for instance, now making carbon fiber boom and yard @ 24foot for our "advanced crab" rig out of carbon fiber and fiberglass sleeves. One large cup provides exactly enough resin for a 5 foot section  of these tubes. This rig will be used on the tiki 21 that we are rehabilitating.

 

[Winston Dryden]

Man, I’m glad everyone felt the same way. Out of determination I gave the Progressive Epoxy site a second, third and forth look. If you read enough there’s some useful info in there. I’ll keep them in mind.

 

We built our mono hull using system 3 and I liked it enough but now days I’m cutting every reasonable dime I can safely.

[John Galilee]

Epoxy 'A' from www.blugee.co.uk is very good. Its solvent free, easy to use 2:1 ratio, and no residue. The fast hardener is good for UK temperatures. They are in Poole in the UK.

 

[Mary Wilson]

We're using epoxy and all the trimmings (glass, microballoons, wood flour...) from Raka and we've been pleased. We have a variety of hardeners -- fast and slow as well as cold cure. The variety has worked well for us in our climate. We measure by weight rather than volume -- my build partner Robbie created a chart that let's us do that -- and mostly mix in yogurt containers.

[Alex parrish]

Hi marry I see you are up in the PNW area as well, Can you elaborate on the "cold cure" from Raka? Are you referring to 610 fast hardener? I will have some raka epoxy a friend is giving me to do some rudder work and finishing touches and would like to work through winter if I can here in the Puget Sound area. 

Mary Wilson said:

We're using epoxy and all the trimmings (glass, microballoons, wood flour...) from Raka and we've been pleased. We have a variety of hardeners -- fast and slow as well as cold cure. The variety has worked well for us in our climate. We measure by weight rather than volume -- my build partner Robbie created a chart that let's us do that -- and mostly mix in yogurt containers.

[Tim Brown]

Yeah, just like Alex interesting in cold cure(since it's already gettin pretty cold, planning to work entire winter.
Mary Wilson said:

We're using epoxy and all the trimmings (glass, microballoons, wood flour...) from Raka and we've been pleased. We have a variety of hardeners -- fast and slow as well as cold cure. The variety has worked well for us in our climate(even used some for our AR-15 build) We measure by weight rather than volume -- my build partner Robbie created a chart that let's us do that -- and mostly mix in yogurt containers.