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Re: Help me
By:chris l walter
Date: 1/31/2001, 10:12 am
In Response To: Help me (Christopher Paterson)

: I am doing a project on canoeing materials i am studying polyester resin
: could you give me any info it would really help thanks

polyester resin is good for makeing boats if you lay it up in a mold with each layer bonding to the next layer. it works best if you gelcoat then a layer of mat then roven then mat then roven and so on. epoxy is better for covering wood as it is an adhesive. also polyester resin has a tendecy to delaminate from the surface of most woods over time due to moisture problems, so if you glass the outside of the hull you had better not glass the inside you will be asking for trouble. right now I am taking an advanced fiberglass class at svc in washington and there are so many things that I thought I knew about glass that I was just wrong on. the instructor from the school has worked with polyester and vinylester resins as well as epoxies for a long time in the boat building trades before taking over the glass dept at the school. he says in class the all of these products are great if you use them as they were intended to be used. but if you want to encapsulate a strip built kayak or canoe or plywood boat use the right resin and that would be epoxy. now if you are laying up an all glass canoe you can't beat polyester resin it is cheap and very forgiving in the lay up stages plus you can vary the mekp ratio to meet the conditions of the shop temps to a certain degree. there is so much more info I could give here but I do not want to bore anyone. clwalter, by the way my great auk plans have arrived and I will be starting construction on the forms this weekend.

Messages In This Thread

Help me
Christopher Paterson -- 1/31/2001, 6:46 am
Re: Help me
George Cushing -- 2/1/2001, 8:08 pm
Re: Help me
John Monfoe -- 2/1/2001, 4:19 am
Re: Help me
Paul G. Jacobson -- 1/31/2001, 5:59 pm
Re: Help me
chris l walter -- 1/31/2001, 10:12 am
Re: Help me
Erez -- 1/31/2001, 9:28 am
Re: Help me
Jim Eisenmenger -- 1/31/2001, 7:09 am