epoxy choices

[Bill Gibson]

Im building my favorite unlimited hydroplane of all time, the 1973 paynpak, aka the winged wonder.....i picked up 3 dumas kits brand new, for 50 bucks a piece at a flea market so im all EXCITED!! Ive been building wood boats for years using hobby poxy or nhp products for years with very good results, however i am aware that alot of youall use west systems epoxys. my question is do you use the 105 resin with the extra slow hardener? I know that this has been sorta covered before but i dont know how to find the info.....any and all input and opinions would be greatly appreciated!! Oh, by the way, this is an 1/8 scale boat..Many thanks, Bill

 

[Jeff Stubbers]

Im building my favorite unlimited hydroplane of all time, the 1973 paynpak, aka the winged wonder.....i picked up 3 dumas kits brand new, for 50 bucks a piece at a flea market so im all EXCITED!! Ive been building wood boats for years using hobby poxy or nhp products for years with very good results, however i am aware that alot of youall use west systems epoxys. my question is do you use the 105 resin with the extra slow hardener? I know that this has been sorta covered before but i dont know how to find the info.....any and all input and opinions would be greatly appreciated!! Oh, by the way, this is an 1/8 scale boat..Many thanks, Bill

Congrats on your new project Bill. It sounds like a fun one!

Use West Systems 205 "Fast Hardener" when piecing your wood boat together. I would only use the West Systems 206 "Slow Hardener" if you are wetting a large area all-at-once, such as is done when making an all-fiberglass hull and you need to lay several large-area layers of fiberglass at once. In that situation the 206 "Slow Hardener" will give you a longer working time before it starts to 'kick-off'.

Have a great time with your project!

-Jeff

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Okay, lets keep things simple:

105 is the standard resin used in all West Systems epoxies

205 is the fast (9-12 minutes) hardener

206 is the slow (20-25 minutes) hardner

207 is for coating where wood will be seen through epoxy. Will give color similar to spar varnish

209 is the EXTRA SLOW (40-50 minutes) hardener for bonding and not clear coating

Please Note, these times are aproximate for a 72* working environment

for a full listing of all the West Systems products and how they are used, check out http://www.westsystem.com/

 

[glenng]

Im building my favorite unlimited hydroplane of all time, the 1973 paynpak, aka the winged wonder.....i picked up 3 dumas kits brand new, for 50 bucks a piece at a flea market so im all EXCITED!! Ive been building wood boats for years using hobby poxy or nhp products for years with very good results, however i am aware that alot of youall use west systems epoxys. my question is do you use the 105 resin with the extra slow hardener? I know that this has been sorta covered before but i dont know how to find the info.....any and all input and opinions would be greatly appreciated!! Oh, by the way, this is an 1/8 scale boat..Many thanks, Bill

Just finished a 1973 Pak. I used the 206 hardener(I'm old and slow). Thing I liked best-it doesn't stink. Glenn

 

[Bill Gibson]

OK guys, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the input.....I went out and bought the west systems 105 resin , the 206 and 209 hardener, cause im old an slow too....also got the mini pump kit.....i noticed that the stuff appears to be quite thin compared to other slow set epoxies that ive used in the past...soooo my question is ,say i wanted to glue a 1/16th plywood skin to the the bottom of the frames on my wood boat...do i need to thicken the mix cause it is so thin or can i just use the straight mix?? I do have a can of 404 high density filler...again any input is GREATLY APPRECIATED as i simply have no experiance with this particular epoxy...Glenn have you run your PAK yet, and if so how do you like it ? I changed the bottom of mine a little bit to hopefully get rid of some lift...less tunnel depth..again, MANY THANKS, Bill

 

[glenng]

OK guys, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the input.....I went out and bought the west systems 105 resin , the 206 and 209 hardener, cause im old an slow too....also got the mini pump kit.....i noticed that the stuff appears to be quite thin compared to other slow set epoxies that ive used in the past...soooo my question is ,say i wanted to glue a 1/16th plywood skin to the the bottom of the frames on my wood boat...do i need to thicken the mix cause it is so thin or can i just use the straight mix?? I do have a can of 404 high density filler...again any input is GREATLY APPRECIATED as i simply have no experiance with this particular epoxy...Glenn have you run your PAK yet, and if so how do you like it ? I changed the bottom of mine a little bit to hopefully get rid of some lift...less tunnel depth..again, MANY THANKS, Bill

Bill, I changed the sponsons to lessen the tunnel depth also. I tacked the frames together with thick CA and thickened up the West with micro baloons and used a sharpened popcicle stick(with a 1/16-3/32 radius ground on the end) to put a small fillet radius on the joints. On the exterior I brushed on the West system(without micro baloons) and spread it out in thin even coats with a bondo spreader cut down to 1 1/2 to 2 inch width. For large flat surfaces(like the bottom) a 2 1/2" piece of spreader works well. This stuff dries really hard and is tough to sand. I prefer 3 thin coats over one thick one sanding between coats. I drilled a lot of lightning holes in the frames and was careful to seal all the exposed mahogony with West epoxy or CA. Send me a e-mail at [email protected] and I'll send you a few pics of the finished boat. Glenn