Totalboat Polyester lamination Resin

Not the easiest polyester resin to use. It was a guessing game to get the MEKP just right. Seriously wish they had better instructions. Looked at Boat works today and asked question but Andy would not give me advice unless I was a paid follower on Patron or what ever . I called the James Town Distributors, and left a call back number. They called me back with in a few minutes at which time they explained the Mystery of MEKP calculation. Once I got the feel for the product it was really easy to use. The lay ups went real easy. One really positive note here. James Town Distributors has shifted away from shipping this item in a metal can. It now come in a plastic bottle which is awesome from shipping. My package arrived damaged but the item was perfect. Total Boat seems to target the weekender DIYer. If you have questions just reach out to them. The staff is nice and informative and are willing to share what information have for free......... I gave 3 stars an ease of use because it is a little stressful at first, so be aware of this

This was my first time working with TotalBoat laminating resin so I ran into a couple surprises that I wasn't expecting. The first thing I noticed when I opened the can poured it into my mixing cup was that this resin is a thinner (lower viscosity) resin than I'm used to working with and the second was that it had a less pungent odor than other resins (a good thing). I had intended to use this with glass cloth over Cossa board but because it was so thin I noticed the board seemed to absorb the resin readily. As a result I decided to apply the first coat directly to the board and follow it up with another over glass cloth. As I applied it I noticed that seemed to take about twice as long to "kick" as other resins I am used to which made applying it easier. After it hardened I found that dried to a gloss finish and was not tacky as expected. The finish was more akin to something you would expect if it had wax in it. This did not present a major issue for me as I gave it a light sand and then wiped it with acetone but I was expecting a laminating finish and didn't get one even though I accurately measured the resin and hardener. I do think I will use this resin again in certain circumstances as I have a better feel for how it will react but I would like to know why this dried to a final finish rather than a laminating one.

Works well

Very little experience working with fiberglass, a little nervous taking on glassing a wooden canoe paddle blade. Directions super easy, the mixing/curing color change was helpful, it applied (chip brush) and cured exactly as I wanted. When combined with the 4-oz. cloth from another vendor, the canoe paddle came out better than I hoped - it doesn't look like a "first attempt."

Easy to use to patch a crack in a boat hull when used with fiberglass mesh. Dries fast and solid.