Resins help

First let me apologize for the long backstory before my question.

I retired from the Navy and my wife and I moved to the Philippines where we volunteer as missionaries. I am beginning the process of building a stitch and glue boat plan I purchased online. The person who made the plan is having health issues and unable to provide guidance. I have watched a number of YouTube videos and feel confident in my carpentry skills to accomplish the project. My concern is the availability of epoxy and waterproof wood glue...but, mostly epoxy. (They don't sell waterproof wood glue. They use epoxy for everything.)

Marine no sag epoxy is easy to get get here. You can buy it at just about any store. You mix the parts together and you get a moderately thick paste that will form filets beautifully. This is the only kind of epoxy that boat builders use here. To thin the epoxy to saturate fiberglass mat they use epoxy reducer.

I really don't want to use a reducer.

The other thing they will use here is a polyester resin to place fiberglass mat on the wood frame. Everything I have read online says that is good if you are going to make a pure fiberglass boat, which I'm not doing. For me this then is out of the question.

The only clear epoxy resin I have found is marketed at epoxy jewelry making. I know that you don't always have to use something for what it is "made" for. However, I don't know enough about epoxy to know if it is a good idea to use on a boat.

Finally to my questions:

Can I used the liquid clear epoxy marketed for jewelry making?
Am I stuck reducing the no sag epoxy?
Will I weaken the marine epoxy using a reducer?

 

I would see if the manufacturers of no-sag epoxy and jewelry epoxy have an epoxy that competes against West System marine epoxy for wooden boat applications. It may be easier to piggyback your order on a local merchant's larger order than to place a single order to West Systems epoxy.

 

That’s just backwards!
Your basic epoxy resin should be thin for lamination, and then can be thickened for filler.
I don’t think you’ll get satisfactory results from thinning resin for the laminates.
Read the label carefully if you do, some thickeners are not great for waterproof.

 

Poly can and has been used successfully over plywood. Poly is less forgiving and has more hoops to jump thru when used on wood.

Unfortunately most of the people who use poly on wood are also less likely to methodically jump thru all the hoops. Their less than ideal workmanship results vessels with short lifespans.

 

Thou shalt not follow the old ways as laid down by the book of Vaitses, but the new teachings brought to you by the profets Gougeon.

Thou shalt learn the good book of Gougeon by heart, not only trough the teachings of the youtube congregation, for it is free for all to read.

Thou shall not indulge in the heresies of reducer and home improvement products.

Thou shalt pay your tithes to the Church of Unadulterated Epoxy and purchase absolution at a local convent for your doubts, for the church is there.

In the name of the resin, the hardener and the filler, we permit you to not do the pilgrimage to the convent in person, because of the global pandemic.

The convents of the local congregation of West Systems are to be found as follows: Branches - Polymer Products (PHIL.) INC. https://www.polymerprod.com/branches

The convents of the aggregated sects of Gurit, Sika and Co. are to be found as follows: https://bptechphils.com/contact.html

Be forewarned, if you ever doubt the power of the good profet google again, thou shall be be stuck in ferrocement purgatory until you buy a metric ton of epoxy.

 

Yeah. You need to get some regular epoxy resin.

It is typically thickened with fumed silica or wood flour (not sawdust).