BigBendFishing.Net

I'm looking for a good souce for epoxy resin. Don't need too much of it. A quart of resin and hardener to match would be more than enough. Looked at West Marine earlier and they wanted $28 for a quart of resin and $15 for a pint of hardener. Suspect I can do better than that. Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks,
Nathan

Try Advantage Marine, or RMS, both in Medart.

Try in the automotive section of Wally-Mart may or may not have it.

Lowes has it in the paint section very reasonably priced.

raka.com or uscomposites.com

Im building a boat and have had a good experience with fiberglass coatings inc they are out of St. Pete and the stuff usually arives in a few days. They have the best prices that ive found and its real marine stuff. I dont knoe the price for a quart ive always bought by the gallon. It totals about 55 for the resin and activatir the quart should be a buit cheaper.

If you wanna check em out their at fgci.com

Thanks all. I'll have to do some shopping.

Nathan

FISHINFREAK wrote:Im building a boat

Details here.. What you building, pictures.

Yeah..show us some pictures of that boat....BTW..uscomposites is the cheapest epoxy you can buy for boat building...That's what I used for my last project...I used the 2:1 and 3:1...I recommend the 2:1, slow cure...I had a few pots smoke on me with the 3:1....

Ok Guys,
Chalk, this boat comes from the same site you were building the Phantom 16 from. Its the Extreme Flats 20. You might have looked at it also. There was actually an article In Fl Sportsman a few months back about a guy that builds an almost identical boat. The one in the article was red with a merc. I am nearing the final stages. I rebuilt an old tandem axle trailer and found a steal of a deal on a yammy in Jaxville. I found a '99 40hp that a guy traded when he upgraded to a 4 stk 60hp. The motor is almost new and looks great i got it for $1500. I haven't published much about the boat for a few reasons. One, i'd like to make sure it floats and performs decent. I also did not use marine ply which im sure I would catch grief for that. I could find some pretty decent prices but the problem was getting it here. Most places wanted as much as the wood just to ship it, since I dont have a commercial address to ship it to. I found some quality hardwood plywood I could get locally and it seems to work fine. I make sure to cover everything in resin real good. The other reason is I deviated from the plans a litte regerding the decks and floor. The original plans called for the stringers to stick up about 4 inches all along the floor. If there's one thing I hate is tripping over something in a 2' sea , ouch, bruises . So I built a raised floor and am pouring two part polyeurethane pour foam in between the two. This will be similar in design to a Carolina Skiff and much safer than the original plans which did not allow for floatation. I went one size smaller on the plywood but double layered it essentially so it sould be plenty strong and ride better with the foam. I am also building a larger front deck than called for. My wifes only request was a deck big enough to sun tan on. What ya gonna do . I am putting in a aftermarket console from one of my dads project boat. The plans call for a tiller but I like the functionality of a console for electronics, dry storage, etc. Ill try to post pictures if I can figure out how. My only concern is that the boats gonna ride wet which I knew before I began. But it feels kinda nice in august anyways. If the hurricanes let us fish any this summer. I thought it would be harder than it has been I wish I'd of built the Phantom 18, but this should be a very economical boat, and with gas going up I like the light weight aspect. Hopefully in a few months you guys will see a extreme flats 20 skiff with a blue hull and SHALLOW MINDED in white on the side slaying the trout out there. I havent had much time to work on it lately with Finals at school and a wife thats gonna have a baby anyday. I was going to post on boatbuildercentral.com but those guys seem to be a little picky on deviating from the plans and all that. Plus I just don't have much time to post. Hopefully I will be able to more in the future.
Tim

hey Chalk,


Thanks for the info on us composites, i checked their site and it definatley is a better deal. Not too much cheaper but the jugs will be much easier to pour than the gallon cans the stuff i've been getting comes in. and they sell pumps, that will save a bunch of time, I'd be done by now if I'd of had that stuff all along.

That's a nice boat....The XF20 was cloned after the Henderson skiff...Did you add 4" to the free board to make up what you lost by adding the floor?

I wouldn't recommend using the uscomposite pumps, one air bubble and you could have a bad mix....I bought a good glass measuring cup, some opaque dixie cups and figured my resin and hardner amounts..Say you use the 2:1, add 2 ounces of water, pour it in the dixie cup, take a magic marker and draw line marking the resin fill line, then pour an ounce of water in the measuring cup, pour it in the dixie cup with the other 2 ounces of water and draw that line, above the first...Now take a ruler and measure the two marks on the cup, from the bottom (lay the ruler on the cup, flat and measure from the bottom)...Sounds like alot of work, but it's more typing that actual doing.....I would measure and mark up four or five cups at a time....I kept a master cup that had different volumes of resin measured on it.....I trust myself over a pump...never had a bad mix, mixed over 6 gallons.....

Keep them pictures coming....

I know a lot of guys that build tons of rods and buy rod finish in gallon jugs use the pumps. Rod finish is very picky about proper amounts and bubbles as well, but from everything I hear they still work pretty good. Another trick is to drill a hole in the cap just the right size to slide a syringe tip in it. Turn it upside down to let the bubbles rise and then suck out what you need. For rod finish I just leave the syringes in the holes to keep the bottles sealed.

Nathan

Chalk,

No I wasn't able to raise the freeboard as by the time I decided to build a sole over the stringers it was too late to raise anything else. The boat is going to be mostly decks anyways, since its mostly a flats boat. I didn't like the shallower floor either but it was either that or trip on the stringers. I am putting some stainless handrails on the sides thought they should help. Yea it seems like with the pumps you would have to keep out air bubbles and make sure they were primed good before measuring. I have been using graduated measuring cups and pouring from the gallon and quart cans, so its been quite a mess. It seems if I just pump the resin into the measuring cup to a certain level and pump the activator the same way but a thrid less it will be ok. Thats how ive been pouring byt then you have to mix them both in a larger container which gives another opportunity to make a mess or have error in the measurments. Or you could pump from the base up to say 9 oz. and then pump activator untill its at 12oz. and then you would have one less step in the process. I have used about 7 gal by mixing the way I described earlier by measuring and pouring seperate then combining and mixing. I have eiher been lucky or the resin is pretty forgiving because its all set up fine for me. I think the pumps will save me some cleanup if nothing else. So im gonna place an order here soon. I will try to post some more pics when I can. We had a baby Sunday and things are still kinda crazy.