is west system and west marine running a big scam?

[albergsailor]

Boats are all made out of laminating resin. If u walk into a west marine you wont find a even a pint of it on thier shelf. Yet they are over flowing with west system epoxy. I just fixed many holes and scrapes in my boat using epoxy and now i wish i had not. Theres just simply no reason to use the stuff in 90 percent of the applications they recomment using it for. All they try to say is it has better adhesion. well i dont think polyestors adhesion is really that bad. Were polyestor repairs cracking and falling off boats left and right. Im assuming the awnser is no. The major thing i overlooked was regelcoating. Once u epoxy u can surely regelcoat but without piece of mind. With laminating resin( the stuff they dont sell at west marine). Gelcoat will chemically bond to it. But oh u used epoxy. Theen u will haveto buy epoxy primer and paint from west marine. Which is toxic if sprayed. A once saw a post that said on polyestor boat u should use same materiels to fix and boy he was right. Then look at how bad epoxy holds up to heat. Dont exceed 120 degres. It gets that hot outside! I just feel like ive been led in the wrong directiin from all these people and west system asociates that go online spreading this ******** information.

[Tim R.]

West Marine sells Polyester resin. I have purchased it in my local store. If your local store does not carry it, they can easily order it for you.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...1#.UlV49VM8HL8

[atoll]

ha ha i regularly get shot down for reccomending using polyester resin for repairs!
grind out properly,clean with acetone repair,hard in 45 minutes,ready for the next coating,cant do that with epoxy.

below the waterline or structural, epoxy is way superiour but every thing else use normal polyester and unwaxed gelcoat for repairs

[albergsailor]

Well sure under the water line is fine because u will be epoxy barriercoating. I dout west marine even sells unwaxed gelcoat. See i was planning on repainting cuz i thought the old gel was shot. but even if it was that still wudda been a bad idea. its funny how spraying all these 2 part paints is so much more toxic than just respraying gelcoat yet west marine pushes all these cyanide paints. I read about all these people painting there boats. Y dont they just spray on gelcoat. um cuz they got caught up in the hype like me.

[colemj]

I have always found polyester resins - both with and without wax - at West Marine, along with gelcoat, IPA inhibitor, etc.

Mark

[atoll]

Originally Posted by albergsailor

Well sure under the water line is fine because u will be epoxy barriercoating. I dout west marine even sells unwaxed gelcoat. See i was planning on repainting cuz i thought the old gel was shot. but even if it was that still wudda been a bad idea. its funny how spraying all these 2 part paints is so much more toxic than just respraying gelcoat yet west marine pushes all these cyanide paints. I read about all these people painting there boats. Y dont they just spray on gelcoat. um cuz they got caught up in the hype like me.

gelcoat because of its fast cure time is not really designed to be sprayed on,unless into a mold.

[rw58ph]

West System is sold at most if not all marine stores, so it no just West Marine. I think its so popular as they provide everything required, 3 different hardeners, 7 additive/fillers, and instructions/site. I have used West System for 17+ years, and carry the epoxy, hardener and several filler all the time as it comes in handy for many applications.

You can mix for a slow hardening, several hours or a hot quick hardening, 30 minutes for quick fixes. Unless I want at clear finish, bright work, I always use an additive/filler as the epoxy seem to be stronger and you can mix to the texture you want, runny to flow smooth or peanut butter so it stay in place. For me since I have used to for so long, don’t have to measure, know what hardener/additive to use and sold at most marine stores its convenient.

[albergsailor]

Originally Posted by colemj

I have always found polyester resins - both with and without wax - at West Marine, along with gelcoat, IPA inhibitor, etc.

Mark

I wish i could quote the other guy too. Im willing to bet a dollar to a dime that if u were lucky enough to find laminating resin in stock at west marine that it would cost TWICE as much as epoxy. I dont remember them ever having it in stock. And i inquired about ordering it and it was still more for a gallon of laminating then for a gallon of epoxy. And that may have been waxed resin.

[albergsailor]

So you cant respray an entire side of a boat with gelcoat? Seems a good way to go cuz its not nearly as toxic. I just started looking into gelcoating.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by albergsailor

I wish i could quote the other guy too. Im willing to bet a dollar to a dime that if u were lucky enough to find laminating resin in stock at west marine that it would cost TWICE as much as epoxy. I dont remember them ever having it in stock. And i inquired about ordering it and it was still more for a gallon of laminating then for a gallon of epoxy. And that may have been waxed resin.

if you intend using a lot of resin,as i do i allways buy direct from a resin supplier,buying from a chandler you are allways going to have high prices and a poor choice.

if doing a big plumbing job,you would not buy from a general hardware shop,instead you would buy from a plumbing supply shop who specialises in pipe and fittings

[albergsailor]

I know that lol. I think its like 125 for 3 gallons of isopathic from uscomposite. I was just trying to make a point.

[albergsailor]

Seems like spraying gelcoat if fine just takes more labor cuz u have to sand.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by albergsailor

Seems like spraying gelcoat if fine just takes more labor cuz u have to sand.

better to sand and polish the old gelcoat and treat scratches topically,than having to sand the whole hull,then sand and polish after re- gelcoating

[albergsailor]

Absolutly correct. Y wud sum1 ever respray good gelcoat? reason i asked is because i sanded the paint off my gelcoat with 60 grit on the one side. It may still be able to be saved i havent sanded out the squigglies yet to see how much gel is left. I thought i was going to be painting the boat and i thought the gel was in bad shape having all the scrapes in the paint the gel didnt hardly suffer a scratch. I made a really stupid mistake i kno. Y the po painted the boat over such gelcoat in good condition defies me.

[44'cruisingcat]

WEST system epoxy and West marine aren't related companies. W.E.S.T. stands for Wood Epoxy Saturation Technique. It's an epoxy system for boat construction. The fact you've used it to repair a polyester boat isn't WEST system's fault. It's your's.

Try doing the research BEFORE doing the job.