How to not waste epoxy....

[jlangleyrn]

I'm new to the site, as well as new to using epoxy vs traditional polyester resin and I'm a little confused by the differences in the epoxy brands. It appears that the marinepoxy brand is the cheapest, is there any real difference between that and the west system brand epoxy ? I'm planning to build a canoe, then work my way up, but I want to make sure I buy the right epoxy and not purchase a more expensive brand for no real reason. I appreciate the information.

[gstanfield]

Go with the marinepoxy. There are some slight differences with Silvertip being top of the line, but not enough difference to matter on a simple boat project. If you're building a carbon fiber mast or something exotic like that then you'll find the slight benefit to silvertip worth the cost, otherwise there have been many many boats built on here with plain old marinepoxy

[jlangleyrn]

Thanks for the quick reply, I figured since its being sold on here, then it must be good to use. I'm looking forward to getting started on some projects and seeing what kind of aqua art I can create.

[John Segura Tucker]

I wasted some making glue for scarf joint on D S 15, but I used small batches for
Tape and got a feel for how far it goes. Wasted about quarter inch bottom of a cup before I learned about extensions on pumps. duhhh rookie. but that's about it. Tried to use left over at bottom of cups for various parts and sole . Did not end up with much. Wasted some of that as I used a brush. Now I know about that. Saw some cheap rollersnatnHarbor Freight.
Paint? What's best?

[JRL]

A few things I always do to save resin is either weigh the cloth and mix an equal amount of resin.

Or if I’m using cloth with easy math. Like a 1/2 Yard or 1 Yard then just look at the OZ rating of the cloth. An example would be 1 Yard of 8.8 oz E glass. That means for one Yard you’ll need 8.8 ounces of resin to wet that yard out. This doesn’t work for chopped stand mat.

As far as increasing pot life you can use those cheap cookie tins to spread the epoxy out over a larger surface. The deeper your pot the faster the kick.

[JRL]

I'm new to the site, as well as new to using epoxy vs traditional polyester resin and I'm a little confused by the differences in the epoxy brands. It appears that the marinepoxy brand is the cheapest, is there any real difference between that and the west system brand epoxy ? I'm planning to build a canoe, then work my way up, but I want to make sure I buy the right epoxy and not purchase a more expensive brand for no real reason. I appreciate the information.

When I look at epoxy it’s like this:

Good (compared to poly)
Epon Brand: this is every composite stores generic decades old formula rebadged brand. Great example is US Composites generic brand.

Best (compared to anything)
Low VOC, high solids, epoxy: Safer, expensive, awesome performance for resin infusion and vacuum bagging. Save your money otherwise.

[Jeff]

Welcome to our Builders Forum!! You will find good help and support from some really experienced Boat Builders!! Regarding our brand, MarinEpoxy, it is a good marine use epoxy and actually made locally. It is the most reasonable priced epoxy that we offer. Our top of the line epoxy is SystemThree (S3) Silver Tip. It is great and we strongly recommend S3 when working with Corecell, Divinycell Cell or other foams or composite material. And yes, we do sell West as this is another premium brand. I think for your start of a canoe, try our MarinEpoxy. I am confident you will enjoy using it with your first build!! Jeff

[johnstonjosh]

Almost done with my FS18 build. Used the Marinepoxy sold by the company. It works great! I started with pumps but just decided to use the epoxy mixing cups they sell on the supply site. They have all the graduated numbers you would need to measure the epoxy to hardener. pumps can be unreliable.

[gonandkarl]

Now that I nearly finished my boat I stumbled across this thread and as I started reading I wondered what Rick is talking about having shown me a perfect video of applying epoxy I realized I am reading in the Year 2006. It is nevertheless excellent reading for all of us and definitely will help future builders. I gained again a few good tips.

[Capt UB]

I was using the epoxy to seal my carport cement floor as it dripped off of the hull.. No waste there!