This is an archived message posted to the Kayak Building Bulletin Board. If you would like to ask a question about building kayaks, you can post a new message.
I was at the Chapters bookstore near my father's house just before Christmas and found a book about a gentleman who builds sailboats using polyester resin. The book interested me because I was under the impression that polyester wasn't a good choice.
This guy addressed the delamination issue by saying that the problem was the oil in the wood so choose less oily woods. (Easier with larger, heavier boats.)
He stated that the water entering through microscopic fisures in the polyester was not due to the resin but instead due to the use of woven cloth. He said that the resin would not penetrate into the areas where many fibers in the woven cloth overlapped each other. His answer was to use random strand cloth.
He admitted that the random strand was not as strong as woven but stated that to compensate for this he added an extra layer. He claimed this extra layer would only bring the weight up to about the same as a single layer of woven cloth.
I don't remember the name of the book or author but when I get back to my father's for a visit I will check it out again.
So, I guess the point to this is that there are many people who have and continue to build boats using polyester resin. We on this board have become biased to the use of epoxy. It would be interesting to hear from people who have for one reason or another used polyester resin on their kayak or canoe and see if there really is a big difference. Maybe this will bring the cost of boats down for people building a large number.
Ian
P.S.- as I am typing this from memory please don't attribute any incorrect information to the author of the book. Any errors are my fault alone.
This is an archived message from The Kayak Building Bulletin Board.
Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
