Polyester resin ?

78 Thompson

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So I am pricing polyester resin, I was originally thinking of going with US Composites, their 435 marine grade. But the shipping and hazard fee comes to about $102 for 5 gallons.
So I found a local company selling resin. My question is how do I know if this resin is comparable to the US Composites? The only thing this says is it’s Polyester Ortho Laminating resin. Is Ortho what I want?
 

Bob_VT

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So I am pricing polyester resin, I was originally thinking of going with US Composites, their 435 marine grade. But the shipping and hazard fee comes to about $102 for 5 gallons.
So I found a local company selling resin. My question is how do I know if this resin is comparable to the US Composites? The only thing this says is it’s Polyester Ortho Laminating resin. Is Ortho what I want?
Call the company and ask them.
 

JASinIL2006

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I'm pretty sure the U.S. Composites 435 laminating resin is also ortho. (They draw a distinction between their isophthalic and orthothalic resins on the polyester resin page.) Poly resin was not easily available to me locally, but what I found regionally was that the cost was the same (or more) as the US Composites cost, including the hazmat shipping. It would be worth checking...

The real question is how fresh is resin and catalyst sold locally? If your local place doesn't sell a lot, you may get old resin - resin has a limited shelf life, so fresher resin is preferable.
 

76SeaRay

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I just ordered from US Composites a few hours ago. Shipping to Washington State and the total came out just a little bit less than anywhere else I could find.
 

Emerger

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So I am pricing polyester resin, I was originally thinking of going with US Composites, their 435 marine grade. But the shipping and hazard fee comes to about $102 for 5 gallons.
So I found a local company selling resin. My question is how do I know if this resin is comparable to the US Composites? The only thing this says is it’s Polyester Ortho Laminating resin. Is Ortho what I want?

Ortho (orthophthalic) is basic run-of-the-mill polyester resin. It's fine for what you want.
 

TankerDan

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I just ordered from US Composites a few hours ago. Shipping to Washington State and the total came out just a little bit less than anywhere else I could find.
Where in Wa. Are you? I'm in Gig Harbor Wa.
 

78 Thompson

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I just ordered from US Composites a few hours ago. Shipping to Washington State and the total came out just a little bit less than anywhere else I could find.
Well for me to order from US Composites it was $241 for 5 gallons shipped to Minnesota. My local is $169 no shipping or haz fee. I might be able to get epoxy for the $241 price, locally?
 

TankerDan

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I found on Amazon 5 gallons of poly from True Composites for $235. But US Composites is only around $20.00 more and pretty much everyone on here recommends it so I got the more expensive one
 

78 Thompson

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Just trying to learn a little about what makes one resin better or stronger. Basically replacing a transom would be structural, wouldn’t it? US Composites has a general purpose resin, that says not for use in structural repairs.
 

todhunter

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If you buy from US Composites and are buying more than one 5-gal bucket, get them to quote you for freight. You don't have to pay the hazmat fee on freight, and if you're buying more stuff, it may come out cheaper.
 

78 Thompson

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If you buy from US Composites and are buying more than one 5-gal bucket, get them to quote you for freight. You don't have to pay the hazmat fee on freight, and if you're buying more stuff, it may come out cheaper.
She said somewhere around $175-200 for freight?
Guess I will try this local stuff. I’m getting it in Minneapolis so not like it’s some small town. Lol
Wouldn’t think they would be selling old stuff.
Thanks for the idea though.
 

78 Thompson

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Guess on second thought, I will have to see what it costs to ship the mat, cloth, cabosil and 1/4 chop. then I will have a better idea if the freight is good or bad.
I was totally shocked when she said $102 for shipping one 5 gallon of resin. I was like what was I thinking, starting this project! lol
 

78 Thompson

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Just in case anyone is looking for fiberglass supplies in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area, Express Composites has reasonable prices and the customer service is 2nd to none.
I didn’t even ask them for any advice on how to do it/ or what to use for my project and Jim the owner went over every process with me, from exact how to do it and what products would work the best for me.
I must have been in the store for an hour, going over every detail, then he said “I know we covered a lot of information here, so if you have any questions during your project just give us a call”.
You just don’t find help like that every day!
 

KJM

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Just in case anyone is looking for fiberglass supplies in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area, Express Composites has reasonable prices and the customer service is 2nd to none.
I didn’t even ask them for any advice on how to do it/ or what to use for my project and Jim the owner went over every process with me, from exact how to do it and what products would work the best for me.
I must have been in the store for an hour, going over every detail, then he said “I know we covered a lot of information here, so if you have any questions during your project just give us a call”.
You just don’t find help like that every day!
Yeah, thats what you want, someone who will take the time to make sure you know what your doing. Sounds like someone you can trust. I bought 5 gal poly resin a bout 2 weeks ago and paid 175 can for it and thought it was expensive, seeing your prices I guess I did OK!
 
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