Resin compatibilty

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

When reinforcing seams and bonding GRP hull pieces to make Z-cuts which resin bond to which- polyester, epoxy, polyurethane.

Most resin available here in the Philippines are polyester type like DIY fiberglass car body repair kits or epoxies. The few PU ones I've seen are for making rigid PU foam.


1/96 Project 1910 Kashalot (NATO Uniform Class) research boat I acquired from Hardrock down under. Scott said he used PU casting resin for the hull.

Epoxy will stick almost anything to anything else, provided the surfaces are dirt-wax-grease-oil free and roughed up to afford 'tooth' so the epoxy can get a mechanical grip between the parts.

Polyurethane as a wetting resin for glass cloth is an awful ideal. Weak, and easily warped via heat and/or unsymmetrical mechanical pressure.

The only time we used this combination -- glass layup using polyurethane resin as the binding resin -- was for model parts that were intended to break on impact. Warp engine miniatures that had to shatter on impact when a shuttle craft crashes into the hangar bay of the ENTERPRISE. Some of the work Ellie and I did for the effects group working Start Teck-5 (A movie so bad that crew T-shirts for the next movie were going to be printed saying: Star Trek-6, The Apology).

[redboat219]

When reinforcing seams and bonding GRP hull pieces to make Z-cuts which resin bond to which- polyester, epoxy, polyurethane.

Most resin available here in the Philippines are polyester type like DIY fiberglass car body repair kits or epoxies. The few PU ones I've seen are for making rigid PU foam.


1/96 Project 1910 Kashalot (NATO Uniform Class) research boat I acquired from Hardrock down under. Scott said he used PU casting resin for the hull.