Please, please use epoxy!!
Please don't try to save a few bucks using polyester resin for boat repairs. You will very likely be sorry later! This is penny wise and pound foolish.
Polyester may be fine for new construction, but for repairs to existing construction you need the "secondary bonding" capability of epoxy. Like Ebb said, epoxy is an adhesive resin, while polyester is not.
Polyester works well only with primary bonds--that is, the chemical bond that forms when layers are added within the "green" working time. Once this brief window of opportunity has passed, the bonds will not be particularly strong. The same goes (especially) for bonding wooden pieces with polyester--wood and polyester do NOT like to stick together for any length of time.
No one ever said boat repairs were cheap. You still have to use the right product for the job. For most boat repairs, the right resin is epoxy. It doesn't have to be West System--many of the other epoxies are also excellent. Each system has its own unique qualities, strengths and weaknesses, however, and each is slightly different to work with. West System is an excellent epoxy, but my no means the only one out there. Amine blush is, to my way of thinking, an extremely minor thing to worry about--it's very simple to scrub with water and Scotchbrite pad, and once it's a habit you don't even think twice about it.
Unless you are laminating on green resin of any kind, you are getting only a secondary bond. Once the green stage is passed, you need to choose the product that will give you the strongest mechanical, or secondary (adhesive) bond.
Don't mess with this. There is a difference between poly and epoxy, and it's a very important one for this application.
Personally, I didn't like MAS epoxies when I tried them--I had trouble with incomplete curing, among other things. I have never experienced a single problem with West System--it always works exactly as intended. Also try System 3 or Raka. Buying the small cannisters of West System filler products will break your budget in a hurry--you can buy any filler in bulk from Raka or System 3. They are the same thing, and also work with polyester (not that you should be using poly!)
Tim
Danger! Danger! Danger! Will Robinson!
While working on my dingy Sunday, I came upon a particularly difficult substance to remove. I was coating a piece of ply in epoxy and mounting it to the transom for the motor, and there was a 'goo' that acetone would not remove.
I went to MEK, that I found in a rusty can in the flam locker, and it worked.
I remember years ago, that I had decided MEK was a substance I would no longer use, (something about being absorbed through the skin and there being no means for the body to excrete it) so I went online this morning to refresh my memory.
Came upon an unrelated piece of information about MEKP
Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide that is used to cure polyester.
Apparently, if it is exposed to acetone, the results can be drastic. Kinda scary considering the two chemicals are regularly used, and stored together.
:eek: :eek: :eek:
Note to self. Don't store poly catalyst and acetone together.
Here is where I found this, fwiw
Link to discussion of hazzards of MEKP
Any thoughts Ebb?....
Never give a sword to a man who can't dance*
mornin' Craig,
Just scrolled down to yer recent post,
ah shure am a curmudgeony s.o.b!
MAKES POLYESTER A PRETTY LETHAL COCKTAIL doesn't it?
Yet I know I could get into somebody's face about it and they'd still edit out what they don't want to hear! Including them who publish advice. I don't mean, 'wear gloves and a mask.'
It's a little late now to find out, but those nameless Azorian farmers who pasted our fleet together, I wonder how their health was after their return home? I'm sure some safety protocols were enforced at the factory in the 60s, couldn't have been very sophisticated. Just guessing.
Once I practically bathed in polyester. Stoned myself on the saccharin fumes. I was born stupid. And I may not have recovered yet, and, as you point out, may never will. :(
Your health is only as good as you can afford.
You can afford good epoxy.
* If in this case the 'sword' is polyester, then the dance is a positive airflow mask, tyvec suits, nitril gloves and a good plan of action based on practice. On the estate here the guys working with face shields or dust masks on a task will remove them as soon as the heat leaves - because it ain't macho to wear them, I presume.
Two classic polyester/fiberglass manuals
Hullo Brendan Watson??? Still there?
To answer your original question,
there are two non-technical (in the old sense) fiberglass books published in the '60's that parallel the age of our A/Cs. One is Allan Viatses' FIBERGLASS REPAIR MANUEL. He also virtually invented the method for sheathing wood with polyester. You really don't need a more technical manual than this in the use of fiberglass.
And certainly the friendliest of all is the wonderful classic: FIBERGLASS BOATS, by Hugo du Plessis. You shouldn't have any trouble finding these. Later editions are updated.
With these two manuals you'll have a lot of know how. My early editions of these books mention dermatitis as a problem for some. And if you develop the problem 'stick to wooden boats'! So there is a golden light of innocence pervading these adventurous how to do it source books. Maybe not right in light of what we now know about these chemicals - but a relief! Can see how I just dove right in.
These really are the polyester classics. Specific epoxy manuals and tip sheets are found at West System, System Three, etc. But the principles are basically the same.
Smith & Co.'s ALL WOOD GLUE, so far as I know THE best epoxy wood adhesive on the market, has a label on the can 1/3 of which in small print spells out hazards, a 'non warranty' in lawyereze, and ends with: 'This product is inherently unsafe - It cannot be made safe.' There should be a skull and bones on all this stuff. But this is a dangerous world and testosterone (AND the profit motive) rules.