About Resins
BOATYARD - Polyester Resin
Typical Applications: above water line, small parts, scenic/statue/display
Boatyard Polyester resin is a non-specified resin containing varying ratios of ortho, isophthalic, and low-profile resins. It is an economical laminating resin for repairs on boats above the water line. Boatyard polyester resin is generally our first choice for customers making small repairs. It's economical and easy to tune for temperature and your working environment.
GENERAL PURPOSE - Polyester Resin
Typical Applications: Small and Large Part Construction, open mold, and marine applications
General Purpose resin has excellent wet characteristics. This high strength low shrink resin works well with cloth, mat, wovens and bias fiberglass. This is a DCPD resin yielding excellent cosmetics. Excellent for laminating with fiberglass, Kevlar, and carbon reinforcements.
VINYLESTER
Typical Application: water and chemical resistance, underwater boat and pool repair, boat manufacturing, and excellent bonding properties
Vinylester Resin requires 2% MEKP every time it is used in order to cure properly. This product can be used to help gelcoat bond with epoxy.
Epoxy
Typical Application: High Strength repairs, High Flexibility. Epoxy has excellent bonding characteristics but it is very difficult to get secondary coatings to stick to it (Gelcoat, Polyester, Vinyester Resin, etc.)
Epoxy resins require two parts typically in a constant ratio, usually 1-4 or 1-5. The cure time is adjusted by buying a different hardener. These are often known as Fast, Medium, Slow, and Tropical. Because different hardeners are required to adjust the cure time it can be much harder to tune for your weather and working conditions. We generally recommend customers steer away from epoxies unless absolutely necessary.
By: Capt. Ken