Wessex epoxy resin vs Evo Stik exterior wood glue

[Lightwave395]

I replaced my sticking plastic sliding doors with their worn tracks last winter with a set of new teak veneered drop down versions with hardwood frames - laminated 2 X 5mm sheets of marine ply which I happened to have, stuck teak veneer on the front side and a 'stippled' surface laminate on the inside, used Gorilla wood glue for the veneer, epoxy resin for the 2 ply sheets and evo stick for the laminate.

The old sticking sliding doors:



The new drop down wooden doors ready to fit:



New doors fitted:

 

[WindyWindyWindy]

Worth bearing in mind that epoxy isn't UV stable. It will yellow and crack if it's left in the sun. But shouldn't be a problem with most of these projects.

 

[PCUK]

I always use West Epoxy slightly thickened for this type of laminating and many other filling uses. No fuss, just mix, apply and clamp together.

 

[Kelpie]

Still not remotely that cheap - but I moved from West to Easy Composites EL2 some years ago and never looked back (much cheaper, lower viscosity, better suited to intermediate temperatures) - 5kg comes in around £20 per KG inc vat/del. Still not six quid mind!

West is great as a 'gateway epoxy' - the pumps, instructions, repair guides etc. are all great to build confidence, but other - cheaper - brands are available!

When I built my dinghy I used Epolam, 6.5kg for £90. Couldn't find anything any cheaper.
The mix ratio is 10:3 which is pretty strange, but you get pretty good at the mental arithmetic.

 

[dankilb]

When I built my dinghy I used Epolam, 6.5kg for £90. Couldn't find anything any cheaper.
The mix ratio is 10:3 which is pretty strange, but you get pretty good at the mental arithmetic.

Same ratio as EL2 - so same/similar stuff, perhaps? 6.5kg makes it cheaper too. Probably about 10 gallons consumed in our refit so far and don’t think we’ve messed up a mix yet… at least that we know of!

 

[dankilb]

I find most epoxy, polyester and some adhesives are very expensive in the long run. OK if a large project to do but invariably with small jobs, most of the can goes on the shelf and has gone off next time it's needed. Don't know how many part containers of resin and pu adhesive I've binned over the years

Yes - one upside of being mid-refit is that there’s always some resin handy (or even leftovers from a mix if you remember!) to glue any little jobs.

 

[emmalina]

!
There must be different types of epoxy. West costs about ten times that.
I built a ply epoxy dinghy last year so I've done a fair bit of research in to different brands as I needed a large quantity for that. Never came across anything remotely that cheap in the UK.

Doubt if you would I had a boat in Italy and the price to do some work in epoxy was silly. I have reskinned my boat here in Thailand with 250kg of very good epoxy and woven roving for about 2.5k UK the supplier is very free with the data sheets and I did a lot of homework. The glue is another product all together and can be sanded very smooth. Price of 1inch teak was very expensive so bought a half inch piece and laminated it.

 

[geem]

Worth bearing in mind that epoxy isn't UV stable. It will yellow and crack if it's left in the sun. But shouldn't be a problem with most of these projects.

You can use a UV stable epoxy. Often called tabletop epoxy. It doesn't yellow.

 

[[2574]]

You can use a UV stable epoxy. Often called tabletop epoxy. It doesn't yellow.

I just googled tabletop epoxy - seems to be mainly used for "rivertop" tables in various beguiling colours....

I think part of my incomprehension of epoxy is simply - what is it? Is it a glue/adhesive? A lacquer? Filler? All of the aforementioned? In Sir Tom's video at the top of this thread it seems to be used as an adhesive and a lacquer. I guess its all things to all men which is why its so popular?

 

[PCUK]

Still not remotely that cheap - but I moved from West to Easy Composites EL2 some years ago and never looked back (much cheaper, lower viscosity, better suited to intermediate temperatures) - 5kg comes in around £20 per KG inc vat/del. Still not six quid mind!

West is great as a 'gateway epoxy' - the pumps, instructions, repair guides etc. are all great to build confidence, but other - cheaper - brands are available!

Just looked on their website and it's around the same price as West epoxy.

 

[Kelpie]

I just googled tabletop epoxy - seems to be mainly used for "rivertop" tables in various beguiling colours....

I think part of my incomprehension of epoxy is simply - what is it? Is it a glue/adhesive? A lacquer? Filler? All of the aforementioned? In Sir Tom's video at the top of this thread it seems to be used as an adhesive and a lacquer. I guess its all things to all men which is why its so popular?

Conventional boat building epoxy is an adhesive. As mixed, it is generally very thin and runny (this varies with brand, and to done extent temperature). In this form you can use it to seal end grains, holes, and to coat surfaces to seal and/or prepare for further coating by paint/varnish or prior to laminating.

The great thing about epoxy is its versatility. There are various fillers available- general purpose like coloidal silicia, micro fibres for structural work, or micro balloons which sand easily to a fair finish.
Use whichever thickener is appropriate (you can buy or make blends too) and add the required amount to thicken up the epoxy.
So for laminating you want it fairly runny, maybe ketchup consistency, to ensure no gaps. In other circumstances you will want it thicker to prevent slumping.

 

[dankilb]

Just looked on their website and it's around the same price as West epoxy.

For small quantities perhaps - but not at ‘boatbuilding’ quantities from anywhere I’ve found. My supplier is over £150 inc. for West 6kg vs £90 inc. for EL2.