TotalBoat Traditional 5:1 Epoxy Resin

The TotalBoat 5:1 Marine Epoxy Resin Kit delivers professional-grade results with absolute ease.Why This Kit Stands OutPerfect Pouring: Included calibrated pumps eliminate all measuring guesswork.Flawless Finish: Cures crystal clear without cloudy blemishes or amber tinting.Zero Bubbles: Smooth consistency allows trapped air to escape easily during mixing.Ample Working Time: Slow hardener provides plenty of time to position complex layups.Rock-Hard Cure: Creates an incredibly strong bond that sands beautifully after curing.Complete Package: Mixing cups and wooden stir sticks are included right inside.Highly recommended for boat repairs, woodworking projects, and fiberglass laminating.

I have a 14' x 10' pop up camper roof that I am completely redoing (the old roof just decayed into nothing) with new wood and covered with a new fiberglass seamless shell. I still have about a 1/4 gallon left to begin applying to the next layer. Worked perfectly. Easy to mix and use. One full pump of the resin, one full pump of the hardener to get the perfect 5:1 ratio with no fuss, no muss every time. The instructions are SUPER CLEAR on this! The bold header at the top of the page is crystal clear! Anyone complaining that it is not clear apparently cannot comprehend what they read very well, or just plain cannot (or did not) read it. I was working on a day that was about 65-70 deg F (~50% humidity), and the working time was fantastic! I was able (with 2 other helpers) to get the entire 1 layer installed and bonded to the wood in less then 8 hours total.

Rather than replacing more than a dozen rotted deck boards. I decided to try to fill the "ravines." I tried many wood putties: n'yet . Bondo? n'yet (Became unworkable too fast for my application). This kit with its slow hardening was perfect. Beyond being simple to use, with the two attached pumps pre-measuring the correct amounts of the resin and hardener. I decided to WILDLY experiment with "additives." First, I added a couple of scoops of Durham's Water Bingo! Mixed easily and perfectly increased the amount of the glop and was easy to spread into the ravines. Dried hard as a rock but it must be abraded hard for painting. Next, I stuffed steel wool into craters, which are deeper than ravines. Then I infused the steel wool with the mixed epoxy. Why? Epoxy bonds with steel and throws off heat to boot. The gaps I filled with steel wool and epoxy are clearly stronger than the original wood fibers because solid steel....Btw: you can perform microsurgery on the "treated" steel wool if you have a competent grinder with attachments. Finally, I mixed grout with sand into the epoxy. Why? Because the sand in this concoction, when used to fill shallower gaps, provided a surface onto which coating would better adhere. Success. Moral of the story: I would have been far, far better off, prying up the deck boards, purchasing new ones, and installing them. Why didn't I do it? I am a retired desk jockey and when I started the project more than a year ago, I did not have the carpentry skills to cut and replace the boards. I have them now. Absolutely no regrets even though the filled-in boards are less than cosmetically perfect. Two warnings: you should absolutely not experiments with epoxy additives. Use only those that the manufacturer prescribes. My outcomes were fine but yours may be disastrous. Second, I could care less about bubbles in the epoxy. Accordingly, my recommendations are expressly limited to the use to which I put the product.

WORKS JUST LIKE WEST AT LOWER COST

I liked the packaging that included the pumps to get the correct ratio into the supplied mixing container. Very tidy way of measuring and mixing. Epoxy does what it is supposed to do.

Total Boat is the best!

First, I'll discuss mix ratio - advertised as 5:1. That's confusing, because the bottles say 2:1 -- Here's the answer: Each stroke of the plunger in the hardener bottle will dispense one "unit" of hardener. The plunger in the resin bottle is larger - it dispenses 2 1/2 times as much per stroke. So 2 strokes from the resin bottle is 5 units, while one stroke from the hardener is one unit -- result: 5:1. Now to the performance issues I have: First, the hardener bottle is for "FAST" hardening, although the description on the Amazon posting shows and says "SLOW" hardener. I prefer FAST, so no complaint - but it doesn't match the advertisement. I"m repairing the engine hatch on my boat, which has edge damage due to water intrusion into the plywood around the edges. I removed the old gelcoat and the rotted plywood, applied a coat of mixed "Total Boat" epoxy to both the original fiberglass edge of the hatch and to the surface of the replacement new 1/8" marine plywood, which i had rough sanded to get good adhesion. I clamped the plywood against the original fiberglass edge using multiple clamps (see attached photos), and waited. The next step would be to cover the plywood strips with fiberglass cloth, then sand, add a fairing compound, smooth, and gelcoat. I haven't gotten that far. After 4 days at 70 degrees, the epoxy was still tacky, so I heated the area with two space heaters, to accelerate the hardening. 30 minutes later, the resin started dripping out onto the table! Removed the heaters. Now it has been 5 days, and the epoxy has returned to the tacky stage. The overall repair of my hatch will require a lot more epoxy, since i will be replacing all of the original plywood in the rest of the hatch. That will require 4 layers of fiberglass cloth, so I bought two "Total Boat" epoxy kits -- neither of them returnable. I've used a very small amount of the first kit. I cannot afford to wait a week or more between coats (assuming this stuff ever hardens) - so it's going on the shelf and I'll order a name brand replacement kit.

I am building a wooden boat and I chose to use the TotalBoat Epoxy Resin Kit (Gallon size, Slow Hardener) to fiberglass the wooden hull. This is a 5 part epoxy to 1 part hardener. The kit includes pumps for the epoxy and the hardener along with some disposable gloves and two mixing/graduated plastic cups. The cups have markings for several mixing ratios. I used the 5 to 1. Fill the cup up to the level you think you need and add the hardener up to the hardener line. Stir for at least one minute to 2 minutes and go to work. When it is properly mixed it will look clear as water. I have been pleased with the working time of the epoxy. If you are working in direct sun and/or hot weather, you may find that it starts to set/harden quicker. I am working outside in the shade and I have plenty of time to apply epoxy, fiberglass and more epoxy over the fiberglass before it even begins to harden...hardens overnight.