stringers
 

Doing some stringer work,what's a good resin fiberglass or epoxy to bond a piece of plywood to a piece of fiberglass stringer surface that is flat but has a lot of highs and low's in it,I need like a paste or something with the consistancey of peanut butter.Thanks JOHN

use west systems 404 high density filler for bonding, you can use it in any resin. What kind of repair are you doing? uscomposites.com has a great epoxy as well as a nice vinylester resin either would work fine but of course epoxy will be the strongest.

If it is a fiberglass hull then yes any resin will work. However if you use epoxy you will need to stay with using epoxy for the full repair & any subsequent coatings over the epoxied repair.. ;) Jamie / Lakeside

repair
 

Here's what I got I took the stringers out of the boat,by cutting the top open,after doing this I found the glass on the inside of the stringers that went down the inside and wrapped into the floor,is all cracked and peeling so I cut that out down to the floor.Now I want to put the new stringer in bond it to the outside glass that's still good then reglass over it all. Thanks JOHN

So if I start with west system,I need to stay with it????????

Yes, or any other epoxy, once you put epoxy in you cant put poly over it.

correct, epoxy is a bit more sensitive of what materials are used with it. No polys can be used in conjunction and also no fiberglass mat should be used. Use a 1700 fabric rather then a 1708. The toughest part about epoxy is a final paintable surface but if this is not an appearance area you wont have to worry about that.

Seeing that you are going with west systen ( epoxy )i also recomend #1700 - D/B 45 /45 fabric with a no chop back and with that in mind do not let west system or there Tech's tell you that epoxy and the fabric that they recomend ( 1708 ) is compatible with Epoxy .............. NOT.

What is the difference between the 1700 and 1708 fabric?? Thanks

John Jr

the first two numbers in the series are the weight of the cloth and the second two are the weight of the stitched on mat. So . . .

1708 = 17oz cloth with a 3/4oz mat
1700 = 17oz cloth with no mat attached.

The 1700 is far easier to wet out with epoxy and the layer of mat actually weakens the layup. Mat has no place in an epoxy system. If you have trouble finding 1700 i have a supplier online that is very reasonable. :cool:

Here are two supplier's on line for 1700 D/B 45/45 with a no chop back and one is a wee bit higher then the other http://www.mertons.com http://stores.infinityfrp.com/StoreFront.bok and when you go into Metron's click on fiberglass reinforcements go into there 12oz double Bias Cloth which will give you prices on both 17oz and 12 oz and on the infinity site scroll down to the fiberglass section and go to knitted and biaxial . I often buy products from Mich fiberglass supply which give good prices if you buy glass by the roll but in your case if you are only buying by the yard i would recomend the two other sites that i have listed .

glass cloth
 

Dave what is the suppliers name ect. I have had no luck yet. Thanks JOHN

ttt

From Dave:

you can get the 1700 here, not sure why its so hard to find but no one seems to carry it. You'd think with as much as places push epoxy they would stock it, especialy us comp.

http://store.raka.com/biaxial1700-17...x-45x38in.aspx

web site does not come up.What is th actual name of the place. Thanks JOHN

http://store.raka.com

search 1700 in upper right and it will bring up the stuff...

seems to be a small problem with their website right now... i just tried that link again and it timed out. It's a good link though... I just purchased some. I can't wait to try it out as I've been using 1708 and really going through the resin. I use US composites 635 slow cure (non-blushing). Never tried west systems... too expensive for my blood.

John , just curious what seems to be the problem , the sites listed or............

Hey guy the reason you are going thru so much resin is because you are using #1708 which is a fabric not designed for use with epoxy because of the chop back ( binder ) and to tell you the truth i have seen were the chop back has torn away from the fabric on some application's even on new boats and a quick mention has any body thought of using an Epoxy that costs a little bit more....... that offers a pot life from 45 ,60 ,75 ,to 165 minutes that is cheaper then West System and also made here in Mich for the Aero space / marine industry and to tell you the truth i just love 165 minutes of pot life for big jobs .