On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 04:38:09 -0700 (PDT), wheewhoo
wrote:

Thanks, Bruce, for the lenghthy and detailed reply, much
appriciated

I need to work out which product to go with I suppose. I was looking
at this on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Epoxy-Resin-Ha...item334f06460f

How suitable would that be for my application? If not, that seller has
a "resin shop", can you see anything in his shop that would do the
job? Or if i go with a gelcaot, he has that too:

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/resinshop__W0QQ_armrsZ1

Thanks again

I can't comment on costs but it seems sort of in the ballpark but I'll
warn you that epoxy varies considerable. I notice mostly viscosity as
some stuff is as thick as treacle and other lots are thinner and
depending on what you are doing you may want one type and other times
the other.

Try to discover Paul (Osman?) site. He posts here from time to time.
His site has an absolute wealth of information about every thing you
need to know. It is sometimes a bit hard to find things on the site
mainly because he has so much information.

His prices are in US$ of course, but you can get and idea of what to
use and how much it should cost.

I'll also comment that you can believe what he says.

Frankly I would not use gelcoat for repairs as epoxy is simply easier
to use. the working time, for example. is many times longer then
polyester. Also note the quantities of epoxy materials advertised and
the lack of polyester.....

Polyester sets up very, very, fast. I recently molded some air scoops
- about 1 foot by 1 foot by 4 inches. Using just polyester mixed with
color with 1% hardener I just had time to brush on a thick coat of
gelcoat, and place a layer of glass cloth into the mold. It is that
fast.

For repairs I really would recommend that you use epoxy and paint. I
do not want to be patronizing or insulting but from the questions you
are asking you really should start out with the simplest possible
repair and proceed to more sophisticated work on a later boat.

Gel coat is polyester and polyester over epoxy materials is not
usually recommended as it does not adhere as well as epoxy over poly.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)