Hey, I’m going to do a small strip of fiberglass and epoxy resin to reinforce the ends of my Aleut kayak paddle. I’m really trying to figure out an inexpensive way to do this. The glass tape is cheap enough, but every time I look up epoxy it’s expensive as hell!
Is there really any difference between the epoxy one uses on a marine application and the 2 part epoxy glues one buys in small quantities at a hardware store? I only need a small amount, not an expensive large container.
Thanks.
For Your Purpose…
…I don’t see it making a lot of difference. The hardware store stuff has more filler and less adhesive ingredients, but should be fine for paddle tipping - it’s not a structural application. If you do want to use good stuff, WEST has little field kits that would be good for a number of paddle tips…
Ding repair kit …
If you live on the coast try a local surf shop, you can buy an epoxy ding kit that would have cloth and resin for about 10 bucks.
You can also buy online. Depends what you buy at the hardware store but it may make an ugly mess of your paddle depending on the color and fillers.
Consider using West’s new G-flex.
You can get 4 oz plastic bottles of resin and hardener for ~$16. It mixes one-to-one and ratio is pretty non-critical. It is thin enough to wet out glass cloth fairly easily, and hardens slow enough to give you time to get the cloth in place and tape plastic food wrap over it for a smooth result.
Depending on the surface contour, you may want to consider bias-cutting the cloth, that is, cutting the fibers at 45 degrees to their orientation. Bias cut cloth conforms much easier to convex or concave contours, and if you’re reinforcing a seam, bias cutting puts twice as many fibers crossing the break line.
I’ve never seen a two-tube hardware store epoxy thin enough to wet out cloth properly. West and similar epoxies made for wetting out layers of cloth are much more likely to do the job properly.
On the epoxy cost issue, probably you could buy cans of West 105 resin and 205 hardener, plus pumps, for around $65. The stuff lasts for years.
I have used both for quite a few years
for your use, I would just pick up the small package with the two plastic plungers at a hardware store for about three dollars.
You also can now get small packages of the resin and hardener at Wally World in the automotive dept.
I use the West systems quarts and pints with the pumps on big jobs, and the little plunger packages on little jobs.
Jack L
Aleut paddle ends
Personally, I would not use glass cloth. It’s really a nightmare to get it to conform to the ends. Especially the tips where most of the abrasion takes place. Epoxy coating them will do fine.
1 to 1 epoxies have the least water resistance. The 2 to 1s are much better. 5 to 1s are the best for water infiltration resistance especially on boat bottoms that sit in the water all year.
For a paddle end, I wouldn’t hesitate to use the 1-1 hardware store 2 part syringe type of stuff or boating stores often have small 2-1 repair kits. WEST is great stuff but expensive and a waste for paddle tips. Plus 5-1 mixing ratios are hard in small amounts with out pumps and all of that.
If you post here you will get lots of replies:
gi-bin/GreenlandTechniqueForum_config.pl
Thanks guys
Appreciate the info.
I don’t want to spend $65 on gobs of the stuff I’m never going to use. You’ve all just given me the essential info.
Thanks.