JEM Watercraft

The question has been asked many times: "Can I use something else other than epoxy and woodflour?"

I always recommend "No". But the search will forever go on. Here's a link to website that has done some testing. See the results and the decide if it's worth the trouble.

http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/gsahv/glue/glue.htm

I envy you being able to afford epoxy resin; personally I've never used it in 14 years of canoe building. Instead I use Polyester resin, which costs me £80 for 20 litres, so I guess that is around $6 per litre, which is much cheaper than epoxy.

I would not pretend that polyester is a patch on epoxy, you could show me a dozen tests in which polyester fails before epoxy. However, I have never experienced the failure of a joint when reinforced with glass fibre, and have used my canoes on the sea, on lakes and on rivers.

It is slightly quicker to "go off" than epoxy in similar temperatures, and can be slightly accelerated by using a bit more catalyst ( which I generally add at 3%).Polyester resin gives off nasty fumes and needs to be used in well ventilated conditions.

Hope this helps someone who can't afford epoxy but would love to make a stitch- and -glue canoe.

John Clohesy www.birchcanoes.com

PS I have bought some epoxy and will be trying it in my next boat.

Polyester can work fine but many builders don't have the experience or required safe environment to work with it. There's a few disadvantages that come with it's low cost.

Epoxy is still what I recommend for builders. If that's all you have access to, then it will work...not as well as epoxy though.

I always worry about using epoxy as in my health...I do wear a respirator when mixing and sanding, but I do not follow the safety rules when it comes to covering up, I need to though...

Kelsall has a good paragraph on resins : http://www.kelsall.com/FAQs.htm

I have used polyester resins in my gander river canoe, this was for two main reasons i have an allergic reaction to epoxy and i have a fair bit of experience using polyester and other polymers to good effect in the past. I also have access to a great friend of mine who works for a resin company who has been great in formulating and accessing products that don’t effect me and sill give a strong adhesion and flexibility[/b]

You know i always try to find a topic that causes some controversy. Has anyone had any experiences with polyurethane adhesives not as a replacement for epoxy just as a waterproof adhesive?.
oh and happy new year to all.

I've heard of some builders using it for filleting purposes.

Epoxy, in general is still the best choice for the majority of stitch-and-glue boat building.

However, some builders have success using poly or other resins. There's always exceptions to the "rules".

tx river rat wrote:

Don't be too shocked Ron. I still say epoxy is the easiest to work with and provides the best chance of a successful build that will last long-term with no issues.

I didnt say nothing mister Matt
Ron