I have been pricing resin and hardener to use the injection method to repair soft spots in the decking of my H16. I have seen it as high as $66 a gallon for West System Resin and as low as $25 a gallon for resin and hardener combo pack at an automotive store. They both seem to have the same ingredients, and the stuff at the auto parts store even has a picture of a boat on it. Does anyone know if there is a real difference?

Chris Bond

$25 a gallon sounds like polyester resin. epoxy has much greater adhesive quality. i think you should use epoxy for your repair. $66 for a gallon of west system sounds like a great deal- did you add in the cost of the hardner? epoxy is usually around $85 a gallon. i am using mas epoxy at present, it seems to be a great combination of quality and price. i get it from clcboats.com. please let me know how your repair turns out, i inherited a baby hobie 3.5 that needs the same treatment. it's neat!

Hey Chris, yes it does sound like the cheaper is poly resin, but I don't agree with not using it. I used to work at a figerglass shop building small catboats, true epoxy is harder, but poly has much more flex. On top of a hull especially a Hobie you'll get alot of flex possiably causing harder epoxies to crack. Just a thought, I would advise though to invest a a dispensing system of some sort, those cheap cans of resin with the tiny tubes of hardner are extreamly tough to mix properly, you always end up getting hot spots or the opposit not kicking at all! Good luck!

Peter Cherrick

H16 ElDiablo

USA 37848

http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/necatsailor