west system vs fiberglass resin

with the exception of cost what is the cons against using the west system vs regular resin???

 

When you say regular resin I assume you are refering to polyesters or viynelesters. Basically the latter two contain solvents as opposed to epoxys which are 100% resin. If you are working with foam like polystyrene then you must use epoxy. Polyesters are more brittle compared to viynelesters and epoxy so a more flexible resin is obviously tougher. Also don't be fooled into thinking that West is somehow special or different as it is just an epoxy like many others. My favourite is Araldite 3600 made by Vantico. Nice and thin to wet out with a long 90 minute pot life if you need time when working with vacuum bagging etc. If you are working with wood then epoxy is the right thing to use. I do not think you could say there is much against using epoxys other than cure time if you really need to pop parts out one after the other.

 

West System makes a good epoxy, but the need for epoxy rather then the brand of epoxy (like West) is subject to debate. Epoxy out performs polyester, and vinylester in most of the ways that we measure these things, including cost.

When working with wood, you don't have a choice, but epoxy. The "esters" just don't stick to the stuff, period. There's no reason other then that to use epoxy, unless you want some of the qualities that epoxies can bring to the table.

An example would be multiple polyester parts being joined with epoxy to take advantage of the added strength, or a epoxy pad under a winch or around fastener holes.

Epoxy is way over used in the industry. It's being used as the cure all for boats of all types. I, and a lot of other people, who have used it a bunch are now rethinking our position on the stuff, especially on restoration work. I've found that sound traditional techniques with just a little epoxy use for the strengths of the product, makes for better repairs/construction then embalming the damn boat in the stuff.

Where as once I would have coated a whole part, I now find I'm just wetting out the hood ends and using more traditional finishing methods to control cost, and more importantly reparability. I'm now having to repair some epoxy jobs I did years ago and it's a lot more difficult to fix things when the goo is all over everything. More traditional techniques would have admitted more water and possibly the part may not have lived as long without the stuff, but it would also have been much easier to remove/repair when that time comes. Then there's the health risk thing, hence the reason a lot of folks are turning back to techniques and methods that are time tested and proven.

 

If you are cold molding a boat then epoxy is the way to go.
I do know that Hatteras uses poly for their whole boat.
clear cote makes one of the cheapest epoxys, That is if they are in production again

 

West is good - In my work with it, I have noticed a little more Amine blush than other resins, but that could be because of the temp. or humidity. An awesome new resin for lamination is Silver Tip from system Three (low viscosity and zero blush). If cost is a major concern, we have a very good private label epoxy that is lower in cost - we also carry all System Three and West products.

Joel Shine
Boatbuildercentral